diff --git a/fs/nfs/pnfs.c b/fs/nfs/pnfs.c
index 4eec540de9ea06bd95f6c6f0c9395c1e59214823..c4f918eca3d26d310fa65cdf9a11cec7c586bb45 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/pnfs.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/pnfs.c
@@ -1494,6 +1494,9 @@ pnfs_update_layout(struct inode *ino,
 	if (!pnfs_enabled_sb(NFS_SERVER(ino)))
 		goto out;
 
+	if (iomode == IOMODE_READ && i_size_read(ino) == 0)
+		goto out;
+
 	if (pnfs_within_mdsthreshold(ctx, ino, iomode))
 		goto out;