diff --git a/src/kdeinit/kinit.cpp b/src/kdeinit/kinit.cpp
--- a/src/kdeinit/kinit.cpp
+++ b/src/kdeinit/kinit.cpp
@@ -490,7 +490,8 @@
                                                QLatin1String(LIB_INSTALL_DIR "/libkdeinit5_")) + QLatin1String(".so");
             }
             // Don't confuse the user with "Could not load libkdeinit5_foo.so" if it doesn't exist
-            if (!QFile::exists(libpath)) {
+            // (and check for empty string to avoid warning message in QFileExists)
+            if (libpath.isEmpty() || !QFileInfo::exists(libpath)) {
                 libpath.clear();
             }
         }