diff --git a/modules/profiles/empty.nix b/modules/profiles/empty.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bb40a31470d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/profiles/empty.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Empty profiles, used to avoid the case where no profiles are selected for
+# nixos-hardware-scan.
+
+{
+  imports = [];
+  options = {};
+  config = {};
+}