diff --git a/tools/tool.cpp b/tools/tool.cpp
index 22228e66999..d938e752041 100644
--- a/tools/tool.cpp
+++ b/tools/tool.cpp
@@ -383,7 +383,10 @@ namespace mongo {
         if ( ! ( _username.size() || _password.size() ) ) {
             // Make sure that we don't need authentication to connect to this db
             // findOne throws an AssertionException if it's not authenticated.
-            conn().findOne(getNS(), Query("{}"));
+            if (_coll.size() > 0) {
+                // BSONTools don't have a collection
+                conn().findOne(getNS(), Query("{}"));
+            }
             return;
         }