diff --git a/extmod/vfs.c b/extmod/vfs.c
index d1291068ad..3cb7af1b43 100644
--- a/extmod/vfs.c
+++ b/extmod/vfs.c
@@ -83,12 +83,8 @@ mp_vfs_mount_t *mp_vfs_lookup_path(const char *path, const char **path_out) {
             }
         }
 
-        // if we get here then there's nothing mounted on /
-
-        if (is_abs) {
-            // path began with / and was not found
-            return MP_VFS_NONE;
-        }
+        // if we get here then there's nothing mounted on /, so the path doesn't exist
+        return MP_VFS_NONE;
     }
 
     // a relative path within a mounted device
diff --git a/tests/extmod/vfs_basic.py b/tests/extmod/vfs_basic.py
index 62b2a27738..9a9ef2ca61 100644
--- a/tests/extmod/vfs_basic.py
+++ b/tests/extmod/vfs_basic.py
@@ -74,6 +74,14 @@ print(uos.statvfs("/")[9] >= 32)
 # getcwd when in root dir
 print(uos.getcwd())
 
+# test operations on the root directory with nothing mounted, they should all fail
+for func in ("chdir", "listdir", "mkdir", "remove", "rmdir", "stat"):
+    for arg in ("x", "/x"):
+        try:
+            getattr(uos, func)(arg)
+        except OSError:
+            print(func, arg, "OSError")
+
 # basic mounting and listdir
 uos.mount(Filesystem(1), "/test_mnt")
 print(uos.listdir())
diff --git a/tests/extmod/vfs_basic.py.exp b/tests/extmod/vfs_basic.py.exp
index ebca310304..536bb4c805 100644
--- a/tests/extmod/vfs_basic.py.exp
+++ b/tests/extmod/vfs_basic.py.exp
@@ -1,6 +1,18 @@
 (16384, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0)
 True
 /
+chdir x OSError
+chdir /x OSError
+listdir x OSError
+listdir /x OSError
+mkdir x OSError
+mkdir /x OSError
+remove x OSError
+remove /x OSError
+rmdir x OSError
+rmdir /x OSError
+stat x OSError
+stat /x OSError
 1 mount False False
 ['test_mnt']
 ('test_mnt', 16384, 0)