diff --git a/t/t7900-maintenance.sh b/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
index e56f5980dc..cefecee732 100755
--- a/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
+++ b/t/t7900-maintenance.sh
@@ -157,7 +157,8 @@ test_expect_success 'prefetch multiple remotes' '
 	fetchargs="--prefetch --prune --no-tags --no-write-fetch-head --recurse-submodules=no --quiet" &&
 	test_subcommand git fetch remote1 $fetchargs <run-prefetch.txt &&
 	test_subcommand git fetch remote2 $fetchargs <run-prefetch.txt &&
-	test_path_is_missing .git/refs/remotes &&
+	git for-each-ref refs/remotes >actual &&
+	test_must_be_empty actual &&
 	git log prefetch/remotes/remote1/one &&
 	git log prefetch/remotes/remote2/two &&
 	git fetch --all &&