diff --git a/src/experimental/filesystem/directory_iterator.cpp b/src/experimental/filesystem/directory_iterator.cpp
index c95ebc8ac..7a1ab2573 100644
--- a/src/experimental/filesystem/directory_iterator.cpp
+++ b/src/experimental/filesystem/directory_iterator.cpp
@@ -42,8 +42,11 @@ static file_type get_file_type(DirEntT *ent, int) {
     return file_type::regular;
   case DT_SOCK:
     return file_type::socket;
+  // Unlike in lstat, hitting "unknown" here simply means that the underlying
+  // filesystem doesn't support d_type. Report is as 'none' so we correctly
+  // set the cache to empty.
   case DT_UNKNOWN:
-    return file_type::unknown;
+    break;
   }
   return file_type::none;
 }