diff --git a/src/freenas/etc/default/locale b/src/freenas/etc/default/locale
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e69de29bb2d1
diff --git a/tests/api2/test_default_locale.py b/tests/api2/test_default_locale.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9e59054b2830
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/api2/test_default_locale.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+from middlewared.test.integration.utils import call
+
+
+def test_default_locale_exists():
+    # it's important we keep this empty file
+    # since it causes error like these if its missing
+    # root@truenas[~]# tail -1 /var/log/error
+    #   Nov 20 21:17:01 truenas CRON[399613]: pam_env(cron:session): \
+    #   Unable to open env file: /etc/default/locale: No such file or directory
+    rv = call("filesystem.stat", "/etc/default/locale")
+    assert rv, rv