diff --git a/Documentation/config/core.txt b/Documentation/config/core.txt
index a29126bcb598c8..e8435cb15cf95b 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/core.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/core.txt
@@ -750,6 +750,15 @@ core.gvfs::
 		directory.  This will allow virtualized working directories to
 		detect the change to HEAD and use the new commit tree to show
 		the files that are in the working directory.
+	GVFS_FETCH_SKIP_REACHABILITY_AND_UPLOADPACK::
+		Bit value 16
+		While performing a fetch with a virtual file system we know
+		that there will be missing objects and we don't want to download
+		them just because of the reachability of the commits.  We also
+		don't want to download a pack file with commits, trees, and blobs
+		since these will be downloaded on demand.  This flag will skip the
+		checks on the reachability of objects during a fetch as well as
+		the upload pack so that extraneous objects don't get downloaded.
 --
 
 core.sparseCheckout::
diff --git a/connected.c b/connected.c
index 8f89376dbcf30c..bc850e50ce4dcc 100644
--- a/connected.c
+++ b/connected.c
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #include "git-compat-util.h"
 #include "gettext.h"
 #include "hex.h"
+#include "gvfs.h"
 #include "object-store-ll.h"
 #include "run-command.h"
 #include "sigchain.h"
@@ -32,6 +33,24 @@ int check_connected(oid_iterate_fn fn, void *cb_data,
 	struct transport *transport;
 	size_t base_len;
 
+	/*
+	 * Running a virtual file system there will be objects that are
+	 * missing locally and we don't want to download a bunch of
+	 * commits, trees, and blobs just to make sure everything is
+	 * reachable locally so this option will skip reachablility
+	 * checks below that use rev-list.  This will stop the check
+	 * before uploadpack runs to determine if there is anything to
+	 * fetch.  Returning zero for the first check will also prevent the
+	 * uploadpack from happening.  It will also skip the check after
+	 * the fetch is finished to make sure all the objects where
+	 * downloaded in the pack file.  This will allow the fetch to
+	 * run and get all the latest tip commit ids for all the branches
+	 * in the fetch but not pull down commits, trees, or blobs via
+	 * upload pack.
+	 */
+	if (gvfs_config_is_set(GVFS_FETCH_SKIP_REACHABILITY_AND_UPLOADPACK))
+		return 0;
+
 	if (!opt)
 		opt = &defaults;
 	transport = opt->transport;
diff --git a/gvfs.h b/gvfs.h
index 44131625828cfa..e69dd4b2c8f785 100644
--- a/gvfs.h
+++ b/gvfs.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #define GVFS_SKIP_SHA_ON_INDEX                      (1 << 0)
 #define GVFS_MISSING_OK                             (1 << 2)
 #define GVFS_NO_DELETE_OUTSIDE_SPARSECHECKOUT       (1 << 3)
+#define GVFS_FETCH_SKIP_REACHABILITY_AND_UPLOADPACK (1 << 4)
 
 void gvfs_load_config_value(const char *value);
 int gvfs_config_is_set(int mask);
diff --git a/t/t5584-vfs.sh b/t/t5584-vfs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000000..8a703cbb640387
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t5584-vfs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='fetch using the flag to skip reachability and upload pack'
+
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+
+test_expect_success setup '
+	echo inital >a &&
+	git add a &&
+	git commit -m initial &&
+	git clone . one
+'
+
+test_expect_success "fetch test" '
+	cd one &&
+	git config core.gvfs 16 &&
+	rm -rf .git/objects/* &&
+	git -C .. cat-file commit HEAD | git hash-object -w --stdin -t commit &&
+	git fetch &&
+	test_must_fail git rev-parse --verify HEAD^{tree}
+'
+
+test_done
\ No newline at end of file