diff --git a/src/boot/boot.c b/src/boot/boot.c
index aa38ff18ee..772edc95a4 100644
--- a/src/boot/boot.c
+++ b/src/boot/boot.c
@@ -2443,12 +2443,6 @@ static EFI_STATUS initrd_prepare(
         size_t size = 0, padded_size = 0;
 
         STRV_FOREACH(i, entry->initrd) {
-                _cleanup_free_ char16_t *o = options;
-                if (o)
-                        options = xasprintf("%ls initrd=%ls", o, *i);
-                else
-                        options = xasprintf("initrd=%ls", *i);
-
                 _cleanup_file_close_ EFI_FILE *handle = NULL;
                 err = root->Open(root, &handle, *i, EFI_FILE_MODE_READ, 0);
                 if (err != EFI_SUCCESS)
@@ -2459,6 +2453,15 @@ static EFI_STATUS initrd_prepare(
                 if (err != EFI_SUCCESS)
                         return err;
 
+                if (info->FileSize == 0) /* Automatically skip over empty files */
+                        continue;
+
+                _cleanup_free_ char16_t *o = options;
+                if (o)
+                        options = xasprintf("%ls initrd=%ls", o, *i);
+                else
+                        options = xasprintf("initrd=%ls", *i);
+
                 size_t inc = info->FileSize;
 
                 if (!INC_SAFE(&padded_size, ALIGN4(inc)))
@@ -2466,6 +2469,14 @@ static EFI_STATUS initrd_prepare(
                 assert_se(INC_SAFE(&size, *(i + 1) ? ALIGN4(inc) : inc));
         }
 
+        /* Skip if no valid initrd files */
+        if (padded_size == 0) {
+                *ret_options = NULL;
+                *ret_initrd_pages = (Pages) {};
+                *ret_initrd_size = 0;
+                return EFI_SUCCESS;
+        }
+
         _cleanup_pages_ Pages pages = xmalloc_initrd_pages(padded_size);
         uint8_t *p = PHYSICAL_ADDRESS_TO_POINTER(pages.addr);