diff --git a/ironic/common/glance_service/base_image_service.py b/ironic/common/glance_service/base_image_service.py
index 1768b2a118..85aae5734a 100644
--- a/ironic/common/glance_service/base_image_service.py
+++ b/ironic/common/glance_service/base_image_service.py
@@ -217,6 +217,14 @@ class BaseImageService(object):
                 return
 
         image_chunks = self.call(method, image_id)
+        # NOTE(dtantsur): when using Glance V2, image_chunks is a wrapper
+        # around real data, so we have to check the wrapped data for None.
+        # Glance V1 returns HTTP 404 in this case, so no need to fix it.
+        # TODO(dtantsur): remove the hasattr check when we no longer support
+        # Glance V1.
+        if hasattr(image_chunks, 'wrapped') and image_chunks.wrapped is None:
+            raise exception.ImageDownloadFailed(
+                image_href=image_href, reason=_('image contains no data.'))
 
         if data is None:
             return image_chunks
diff --git a/ironic/tests/unit/common/test_glance_service.py b/ironic/tests/unit/common/test_glance_service.py
index 7e135fb403..71c9846fc1 100644
--- a/ironic/tests/unit/common/test_glance_service.py
+++ b/ironic/tests/unit/common/test_glance_service.py
@@ -92,11 +92,11 @@ class TestGlanceImageService(base.TestCase):
 
     def setUp(self):
         super(TestGlanceImageService, self).setUp()
-        client = stubs.StubGlanceClient()
+        self.client = stubs.StubGlanceClient()
         self.context = context.RequestContext(auth_token=True)
         self.context.user_id = 'fake'
         self.context.project_id = 'fake'
-        self.service = service.GlanceImageService(client, 1, self.context)
+        self.service = service.GlanceImageService(self.client, 2, self.context)
 
         self.config(glance_api_servers=['http://localhost'], group='glance')
         self.config(auth_strategy='keystone', group='glance')
@@ -203,6 +203,17 @@ class TestGlanceImageService(base.TestCase):
         stub_service.download(image_id, writer)
         self.assertTrue(mock_sleep.called)
 
+    def test_download_no_data(self):
+        self.client.fake_wrapped = None
+        image_id = uuidutils.generate_uuid()
+
+        image = self._make_datetime_fixture()
+        with mock.patch.object(self.client, 'get', return_value=image,
+                               autospec=True):
+            self.assertRaisesRegex(exception.ImageDownloadFailed,
+                                   'image contains no data',
+                                   self.service.download, image_id)
+
     @mock.patch('sendfile.sendfile', autospec=True)
     @mock.patch('os.path.getsize', autospec=True)
     @mock.patch('%s.open' % __name__, new=mock.mock_open(), create=True)
diff --git a/ironic/tests/unit/stubs.py b/ironic/tests/unit/stubs.py
index d639ad95d5..ba66e15f22 100644
--- a/ironic/tests/unit/stubs.py
+++ b/ironic/tests/unit/stubs.py
@@ -18,8 +18,18 @@ from glanceclient import exc as glance_exc
 NOW_GLANCE_FORMAT = "2010-10-11T10:30:22"
 
 
+class _GlanceWrapper(object):
+    def __init__(self, wrapped):
+        self.wrapped = wrapped
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return iter(())
+
+
 class StubGlanceClient(object):
 
+    fake_wrapped = object()
+
     def __init__(self, images=None):
         self._images = []
         _images = images or []
@@ -38,7 +48,7 @@ class StubGlanceClient(object):
 
     def data(self, image_id):
         self.get(image_id)
-        return []
+        return _GlanceWrapper(self.fake_wrapped)
 
 
 class FakeImage(object):
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/image-no-data-c281f638d3dedfb2.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/image-no-data-c281f638d3dedfb2.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..66e1165b19
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/image-no-data-c281f638d3dedfb2.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Fails deployment with the correct error message in a node's ``last_error``
+    field if an image from the Image service doesn't contain any data.
+    See `bug 1741223 <https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1741223>`_ for details.