diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 1663634cdf..64b7e489f0 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Features
 
 Bug Fixes
 ---------
-
+* [#1411](https://github.com/java-native-access/jna/pull/1411): Do not throw `Win32Exception` on success for empty section in `Kernel32Util#getPrivateProfileSection` - [@mkarg](https://github.com/mkarg).
 
 Release 5.10.0
 ==============
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 30a038fe3b..79f9c6042a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ JNA is a mature library with dozens of contributors and hundreds of commercial a
 - [FileBot Media Renamer](http://www.filebot.net) by Reinhard Pointner.
 - [USB for Java](https://launchpad.net/libusb4j) by Mario Boikov.
 - [Waffle](https://github.com/dblock/waffle): Enables SSO on Windows in Java applications, by Daniel Doubrovkine.
-- [leveldb-jna](https://github.com/protonail/leveldb-jna): Cross-platform JNA based adapter for [LevelDB](https://github.com/google/leveldb) (used in [Keylord](http://protonail.com)).
-- [bolt-jna](https://github.com/protonail/bolt-jna): Cross-platform JNA based adapter for [Bolt](https://github.com/boltdb/bolt) (used in [Keylord](http://protonail.com)). It is show how to use JNA for binding to Go library.
+- [leveldb-jna](https://github.com/protonail/leveldb-jna): Cross-platform JNA based adapter for [LevelDB](https://github.com/google/leveldb).
+- [bolt-jna](https://github.com/protonail/bolt-jna): Cross-platform JNA based adapter for [Bolt](https://github.com/boltdb/bolt). It is to show how to use JNA for binding to Go library.
 - [JVM OpenVR Bindings](https://github.com/kotlin-graphics/openvr).
 - [Apache Ignite](https://ignite.apache.org/): Direct IO plugin
 - [Domino JNA](https://github.com/klehmann/domino-jna): Cross-platform access to HCL Notes/Domino C API methods from Java
diff --git a/contrib/platform/src/com/sun/jna/platform/win32/Kernel32Util.java b/contrib/platform/src/com/sun/jna/platform/win32/Kernel32Util.java
index 175690c256..9654fc52b1 100644
--- a/contrib/platform/src/com/sun/jna/platform/win32/Kernel32Util.java
+++ b/contrib/platform/src/com/sun/jna/platform/win32/Kernel32Util.java
@@ -719,6 +719,9 @@ public static final SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION_EX[] getLogicalProcesso
         return procInfoList.toArray(new SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION_EX[0]);
     }
 
+    // Prevents useless heap pollution
+    private static final String[] EMPTY_STRING_ARRAY = new String[0];
+
     /**
      * Retrieves all the keys and values for the specified section of an initialization file.
      *
@@ -739,7 +742,12 @@ public static final SYSTEM_LOGICAL_PROCESSOR_INFORMATION_EX[] getLogicalProcesso
     public static final String[] getPrivateProfileSection(final String appName, final String fileName) {
         final char buffer[] = new char[32768]; // Maximum section size according to MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms724348(v=vs.85).aspx)
         if (Kernel32.INSTANCE.GetPrivateProfileSection(appName, buffer, new DWORD(buffer.length), fileName).intValue() == 0) {
-            throw new Win32Exception(Kernel32.INSTANCE.GetLastError());
+            final int lastError = Kernel32.INSTANCE.GetLastError();
+            if (lastError == Kernel32.ERROR_SUCCESS) {
+                return EMPTY_STRING_ARRAY;
+            } else {
+                throw new Win32Exception(lastError);
+            }
         }
         return new String(buffer).split("\0");
     }
diff --git a/contrib/platform/test/com/sun/jna/platform/win32/Kernel32UtilTest.java b/contrib/platform/test/com/sun/jna/platform/win32/Kernel32UtilTest.java
index 5d326eace7..cd96bfbee1 100644
--- a/contrib/platform/test/com/sun/jna/platform/win32/Kernel32UtilTest.java
+++ b/contrib/platform/test/com/sun/jna/platform/win32/Kernel32UtilTest.java
@@ -244,9 +244,18 @@ public final void testGetPrivateProfileSection() throws IOException {
         final File tmp = File.createTempFile("testGetPrivateProfileSection", ".ini");
         tmp.deleteOnExit();
 
-        final PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(tmp)));
+        final PrintWriter writer0 = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(tmp)));
+        try {
+            writer0.println("[X]");
+        } finally {
+            writer0.close();
+        }
+
+        final String[] lines0 = Kernel32Util.getPrivateProfileSection("X", tmp.getCanonicalPath());
+        assertEquals(lines0.length, 0);
+
+        final PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(tmp, true)));
         try {
-            writer.println("[X]");
             writer.println("A=1");
             writer.println("foo=bar");
         } finally {