diff --git a/docs/ares_init_options.3 b/docs/ares_init_options.3
index a2b602a5..000cc1d9 100644
--- a/docs/ares_init_options.3
+++ b/docs/ares_init_options.3
@@ -120,6 +120,10 @@ used to test or debug name servers.
 .B ARES_FLAG_EDNS
 Include an EDNS pseudo-resource record (RFC 2671) in generated requests.  As of
 v1.22, this is on by default if flags are otherwise not set.
+.TP 23
+.B ARES_FLAG_NO_DFLT_SVR
+Do not attempt to add a default local named server if there are no other
+servers available.  Instead, fail initialization with \fIARES_ENOSERVER\fP.
 .RE
 .TP 18
 .B ARES_OPT_TIMEOUT
@@ -342,6 +346,9 @@ The process's available memory was exhausted.
 .TP 14
 .B ARES_ENOTINITIALIZED
 c-ares library initialization not yet performed.
+.TP 14
+.B ARES_ENOSERVER
+No DNS servers were available to use.
 .SH NOTES
 When initializing from
 .B /etc/resolv.conf,
diff --git a/docs/ares_query.3 b/docs/ares_query.3
index e86bdebb..00e44f52 100644
--- a/docs/ares_query.3
+++ b/docs/ares_query.3
@@ -121,6 +121,10 @@ The query was cancelled.
 The name service channel
 .I channel
 is being destroyed; the query will not be completed.
+.TP 19
+.B ARES_ENOSERVER
+The query will not be completed because no DNS servers were configured on the
+channel.
 .PP
 The callback argument
 .I timeouts
diff --git a/docs/ares_search.3 b/docs/ares_search.3
index 570e2e23..08246d34 100644
--- a/docs/ares_search.3
+++ b/docs/ares_search.3
@@ -122,6 +122,9 @@ The query was cancelled.
 The name service channel
 .I channel
 is being destroyed; the query will not be completed.
+.TP 19
+.B ARES_ENOSERVER
+No query completed successfully; no DNS servers were configured on the channel.
 .PP
 The callback argument
 .I timeouts
diff --git a/docs/ares_send.3 b/docs/ares_send.3
index 8126647f..1fe1c027 100644
--- a/docs/ares_send.3
+++ b/docs/ares_send.3
@@ -77,6 +77,10 @@ The query was cancelled.
 The name service channel
 .I channel
 is being destroyed; the query will not be completed.
+.TP 19
+.B ARES_ENOSERVER
+The query will not be completed because no DNS servers were configured on the
+channel.
 .PP
 The callback argument
 .I timeouts
diff --git a/include/ares.h b/include/ares.h
index 45517838..acbd6583 100644
--- a/include/ares.h
+++ b/include/ares.h
@@ -161,8 +161,10 @@ typedef enum {
   ARES_ECANCELLED = 24, /* introduced in 1.7.0 */
 
   /* More ares_getaddrinfo error codes */
-  ARES_ESERVICE = 25 /* ares_getaddrinfo() was passed a text service name that
-                      * is not recognized. introduced in 1.16.0 */
+  ARES_ESERVICE = 25, /* ares_getaddrinfo() was passed a text service name that
+                       * is not recognized. introduced in 1.16.0 */
+
+  ARES_ENOSERVER = 26 /* No DNS servers were configured */
 } ares_status_t;
 
 typedef enum {
@@ -196,6 +198,7 @@ typedef enum {
 #define ARES_FLAG_NOALIASES   (1 << 6)
 #define ARES_FLAG_NOCHECKRESP (1 << 7)
 #define ARES_FLAG_EDNS        (1 << 8)
+#define ARES_FLAG_NO_DFLT_SVR (1 << 9)
 
 /* Option mask values */
 #define ARES_OPT_FLAGS           (1 << 0)
diff --git a/src/lib/ares_init.c b/src/lib/ares_init.c
index 014226f3..bae7c72f 100644
--- a/src/lib/ares_init.c
+++ b/src/lib/ares_init.c
@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ static ares_status_t init_by_defaults(ares_channel_t *channel)
 #ifdef HAVE_GETHOSTNAME
   const char *dot;
 #endif
+  struct ares_addr addr;
+  ares__llist_t   *sconfig = NULL;
 
   /* Enable EDNS by default */
   if (!(channel->optmask & ARES_OPT_FLAGS)) {
@@ -155,22 +157,27 @@ static ares_status_t init_by_defaults(ares_channel_t *channel)
   }
 
   if (ares__slist_len(channel->servers) == 0) {
-    struct ares_addr addr;
-    ares__llist_t   *sconfig = NULL;
+    /* Add a default local named server to the channel unless configured not
+     * to (in which case return an error).
+     */
+    if (channel->flags & ARES_FLAG_NO_DFLT_SVR) {
+      rc = ARES_ENOSERVER;
+      goto error;
+    }
 
     addr.family            = AF_INET;
     addr.addr.addr4.s_addr = htonl(INADDR_LOOPBACK);
 
     rc = ares__sconfig_append(&sconfig, &addr, 0, 0, NULL);
     if (rc != ARES_SUCCESS) {
-      return rc;
+      goto error;
     }
 
     rc = ares__servers_update(channel, sconfig, ARES_FALSE);
     ares__llist_destroy(sconfig);
 
     if (rc != ARES_SUCCESS) {
-      return rc;
+      goto error;
     }
   }
 
@@ -387,6 +394,7 @@ int ares_init_options(ares_channel_t           **channelptr,
   if (status != ARES_SUCCESS) {
     DEBUGF(fprintf(stderr, "Error: init_by_defaults failed: %s\n",
                    ares_strerror(status)));
+    goto done;
   }
 
   /* Initialize the event thread */
diff --git a/src/lib/ares_process.c b/src/lib/ares_process.c
index 6361e00d..bd84d09e 100644
--- a/src/lib/ares_process.c
+++ b/src/lib/ares_process.c
@@ -893,8 +893,8 @@ ares_status_t ares__send_query(struct query *query, struct timeval *now)
   }
 
   if (server == NULL) {
-    end_query(channel, query, ARES_ESERVFAIL /* ? */, NULL, 0);
-    return ARES_ECONNREFUSED;
+    end_query(channel, query, ARES_ENOSERVER /* ? */, NULL, 0);
+    return ARES_ENOSERVER;
   }
 
   if (query->using_tcp) {
diff --git a/src/lib/ares_send.c b/src/lib/ares_send.c
index 642c1507..6cefdb6a 100644
--- a/src/lib/ares_send.c
+++ b/src/lib/ares_send.c
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ ares_status_t ares_send_ex(ares_channel_t *channel, const unsigned char *qbuf,
     return ARES_EBADQUERY;
   }
   if (ares__slist_len(channel->servers) == 0) {
-    callback(arg, ARES_ESERVFAIL, 0, NULL, 0);
-    return ARES_ESERVFAIL;
+    callback(arg, ARES_ENOSERVER, 0, NULL, 0);
+    return ARES_ENOSERVER;
   }
 
   /* Check query cache */
diff --git a/src/lib/ares_strerror.c b/src/lib/ares_strerror.c
index fd583c5c..ae94f961 100644
--- a/src/lib/ares_strerror.c
+++ b/src/lib/ares_strerror.c
@@ -85,6 +85,8 @@ const char *ares_strerror(int code)
       return "DNS query cancelled";
     case ARES_ESERVICE:
       return "Invalid service name or number";
+    case ARES_ENOSERVER:
+      return "No DNS servers were configured";
   }
 
   return "unknown";
diff --git a/test/ares-test-init.cc b/test/ares-test-init.cc
index 19c99f40..8d87d7d5 100644
--- a/test/ares-test-init.cc
+++ b/test/ares-test-init.cc
@@ -713,6 +713,37 @@ CONTAINED_TEST_F(LibraryTest, ContainerEmptyInit,
   return HasFailure();
 }
 
+// Test that init fails if the flag to not use a default local named server is
+// enabled and no other nameservers are available.
+CONTAINED_TEST_F(LibraryTest, ContainerNoDfltSvrEmptyInit,
+                 "myhostname", "mydomainname.org", empty) {
+  ares_channel_t *channel = nullptr;
+  struct ares_options opts = {0};
+  int optmask = ARES_OPT_FLAGS;
+  opts.flags = ARES_FLAG_NO_DFLT_SVR;
+  EXPECT_EQ(ARES_ENOSERVER, ares_init_options(&channel, &opts, optmask));
+
+  EXPECT_EQ(nullptr, channel);
+  return HasFailure();
+}
+// Test that init succeeds if the flag to not use a default local named server
+// is enabled but other nameservers are available.
+CONTAINED_TEST_F(LibraryTest, ContainerNoDfltSvrFullInit,
+                 "myhostname", "mydomainname.org", filelist) {
+  ares_channel_t *channel = nullptr;
+  struct ares_options opts = {0};
+  int optmask = ARES_OPT_FLAGS;
+  opts.flags = ARES_FLAG_NO_DFLT_SVR;
+  EXPECT_EQ(ARES_SUCCESS, ares_init_options(&channel, &opts, optmask));
+
+  std::string actual = GetNameServers(channel);
+  std::string expected = "1.2.3.4:53";
+  EXPECT_EQ(expected, actual);
+
+  ares_destroy(channel);
+  return HasFailure();
+}
+
 #endif
 
 }  // namespace test
diff --git a/test/ares-test-misc.cc b/test/ares-test-misc.cc
index a9bf4088..e680481a 100644
--- a/test/ares-test-misc.cc
+++ b/test/ares-test-misc.cc
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ TEST_F(DefaultChannelTest, SetServers) {
   ares_gethostbyname(channel_, "www.google.com.", AF_INET, HostCallback, &result);
   Process();
   EXPECT_TRUE(result.done_);
-  EXPECT_EQ(ARES_ESERVFAIL, result.status_);
+  EXPECT_EQ(ARES_ENOSERVER, result.status_);
 
 
   struct ares_addr_node server1;