diff --git a/fsmonitor.c b/fsmonitor.c
index 0b40643442eb06..af960b50299f5d 100644
--- a/fsmonitor.c
+++ b/fsmonitor.c
@@ -290,9 +290,10 @@ void refresh_fsmonitor(struct index_state *istate)
 	trace_printf_key(&trace_fsmonitor, "refresh fsmonitor");
 
 	if (r->settings.use_builtin_fsmonitor > 0) {
-		query_success = istate->fsmonitor_last_update &&
-			!fsmonitor_ipc__send_query(istate->fsmonitor_last_update,
-						   &query_result);
+		query_success = !fsmonitor_ipc__send_query(
+			istate->fsmonitor_last_update ?
+			istate->fsmonitor_last_update : "builtin:fake",
+			&query_result);
 		if (query_success) {
 			/*
 			 * The response contains a series of nul terminated