diff --git a/cabal-install/src/Distribution/Client/Config.hs b/cabal-install/src/Distribution/Client/Config.hs
index 24c6c6a29f4628000ea7ed5f51564cd28c5db952..13f94146c0817f34eb0552eab491106ffe987b37 100644
--- a/cabal-install/src/Distribution/Client/Config.hs
+++ b/cabal-install/src/Distribution/Client/Config.hs
@@ -964,7 +964,9 @@ loadRawConfig verbosity configFileFlag = do
         CommandlineOption -> failNoConfigFile
         EnvironmentVariable -> failNoConfigFile
       where
-        msgNotFound = unwords ["Config file not found:", configFile]
+        msgNotFound
+          | null configFile = "Config file name is empty"
+          | otherwise = unwords ["Config file not found:", configFile]
         failNoConfigFile =
           die' verbosity $
             unlines