diff --git a/src/cargo/ops/fix.rs b/src/cargo/ops/fix.rs
index 40297ec3f111..2b8c55b41c7b 100644
--- a/src/cargo/ops/fix.rs
+++ b/src/cargo/ops/fix.rs
@@ -154,14 +154,7 @@ fn check_version_control(config: &Config, opts: &FixOptions) -> CargoResult<()>
     if let Ok(repo) = git2::Repository::discover(config.cwd()) {
         let mut repo_opts = git2::StatusOptions::new();
         repo_opts.include_ignored(false);
-        if repo.is_empty()? && !opts.allow_dirty {
-            bail!(
-                "no commits found in the git repository, and \
-                `cargo fix` can potentially perform destructive changes; if you'd \
-                like to suppress this error pass `--allow-dirty`, \
-                or commit your changes"
-            )
-        }
+        repo_opts.include_untracked(true);
         for status in repo.statuses(Some(&mut repo_opts))?.iter() {
             if let Some(path) = status.path() {
                 match status.status() {
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/fix.rs b/tests/testsuite/fix.rs
index 897433cb000c..984972a4a703 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/fix.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/fix.rs
@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ commit the changes to these files:
 }
 
 #[cargo_test]
-fn errors_on_empty_repo() {
+fn errors_about_untracked_files() {
     let mut git_project = project().at("foo");
     git_project = git_project.file("src/lib.rs", "pub fn foo() {}");
     let p = git_project.build();
@@ -782,10 +782,15 @@ fn errors_on_empty_repo() {
         .with_status(101)
         .with_stderr(
             "\
-error: no commits found in the git repository, \
-and `cargo fix` can potentially perform destructive changes; \
-if you'd like to suppress this error pass `--allow-dirty`, \
-or commit your changes
+error: the working directory of this package has uncommitted changes, \
+and `cargo fix` can potentially perform destructive changes; if you'd \
+like to suppress this error pass `--allow-dirty`, `--allow-staged`, or \
+commit the changes to these files:
+
+  * Cargo.toml (dirty)
+  * src/ (dirty)
+
+
 ",
         )
         .run();