diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/mod_outside.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/mod_outside.txt
index 2001c45c3c..e398f7bc40 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/mod_outside.txt
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/mod_outside.txt
@@ -69,10 +69,9 @@ go clean -n
 ! stdout .
 ! stderr .
 
-# 'go mod graph' should not display anything, since there are no active modules.
-go mod graph
-! stdout .
-! stderr .
+# 'go mod graph' should fail, since there's no module graph.
+! go mod graph
+stderr 'cannot find main module'
 
 # 'go mod why' should fail, since there is no main module to depend on anything.
 ! go mod why -m example.com/version