diff --git a/wp-includes/pluggable.php b/wp-includes/pluggable.php
index ddb746ad0a..0028b8cfad 100644
--- a/wp-includes/pluggable.php
+++ b/wp-includes/pluggable.php
@@ -426,10 +426,15 @@ function wp_authenticate($username, $password) {
 
 	$user = apply_filters('authenticate', null, $username, $password);
 
-	if ($user == null) {
+	if ( ($user == null ) ) {
+		// TODO slight hack to handle initial load of wp-login.php
+		if ( empty($username) && empty($password) && ($GLOBALS['pagenow'] == 'wp-login.php' ) ) {
+			$user = new WP_Error('',''); //No Error
+		} else {
 		// TODO what should the error message be? (Or would these even happen?)
 		// Only needed if all authentication handlers fail to return anything.
 		$user = new WP_Error('authentication_failed', __('<strong>ERROR</strong>: Invalid username or incorrect password.'));
+		}
 	}
 
 	if (is_wp_error($user)) {
diff --git a/wp-includes/user.php b/wp-includes/user.php
index d21d5f54ed..3c61ad6ecd 100644
--- a/wp-includes/user.php
+++ b/wp-includes/user.php
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ add_filter('authenticate', 'wp_authenticate_username_password', 20, 3);
 function wp_authenticate_username_password($user, $username, $password) {
 	if ( is_a($user, 'WP_User') ) { return $user; }
 
-	// XXX slight hack to handle initial load of wp-login.php
+	// TODO slight hack to handle initial load of wp-login.php
 	if ( (empty($username) && empty($password)) && $GLOBALS['pagenow'] == 'wp-login.php' ) {
 		return $user;
 	}