diff --git a/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-09-22-TH-win32InstalledFonts.rst b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-09-22-TH-win32InstalledFonts.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b806f8939a64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/api/next_api_changes/2018-09-22-TH-win32InstalledFonts.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+matplotlib.font_manager.win32InstalledFonts return value
+````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
+
+`matplotlib.font_manager.win32InstalledFonts` returns an empty list instead
+of None if no fonts are found.
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py b/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
index 8642d98581c6..6e081247b427 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/font_manager.py
@@ -181,7 +181,6 @@ def win32InstalledFonts(directory=None, fontext='ttf'):
     filenames are returned by default, or AFM fonts if *fontext* ==
     'afm'.
     """
-
     import winreg
 
     if directory is None:
@@ -203,10 +202,9 @@ def win32InstalledFonts(directory=None, fontext='ttf'):
                     path = Path(directory, direc).resolve()
                     if path.suffix.lower() in fontext:
                         items.add(str(path))
-                return list(items)
         except (OSError, MemoryError):
             continue
-    return None
+    return list(items)
 
 
 def OSXInstalledFonts(directories=None, fontext='ttf'):