diff --git a/src/test/test-xdg-autostart.c b/src/test/test-xdg-autostart.c
index cc75bc6024..70287b3c55 100644
--- a/src/test/test-xdg-autostart.c
+++ b/src/test/test-xdg-autostart.c
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ static void test_xdg_desktop_parse(unsigned i, const char *s) {
         case 0:
                 assert_se(streq(service->exec_string, "/bin/sleep 100"));
                 assert_se(strv_equal(service->only_show_in, STRV_MAKE("A", "B")));
-                assert_se(strv_equal(service->not_show_in, STRV_MAKE("C", "", "D\\;", "E")));
+                assert_se(strv_equal(service->not_show_in, STRV_MAKE("C", "D\\;", "E")));
                 assert_se(!service->hidden);
                 break;
         case 1:
@@ -81,14 +81,12 @@ static void test_xdg_desktop_parse(unsigned i, const char *s) {
 }
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
-        size_t i;
-
         test_setup_logging(LOG_DEBUG);
 
         test_translate_name();
         test_xdg_format_exec_start();
 
-        for (i = 0; i < ELEMENTSOF(xdg_desktop_file); i++)
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < ELEMENTSOF(xdg_desktop_file); i++)
                 test_xdg_desktop_parse(i, xdg_desktop_file[i]);
 
         return 0;
diff --git a/src/xdg-autostart-generator/xdg-autostart-service.c b/src/xdg-autostart-generator/xdg-autostart-service.c
index a19d2d7e24..4a30f9e433 100644
--- a/src/xdg-autostart-generator/xdg-autostart-service.c
+++ b/src/xdg-autostart-generator/xdg-autostart-service.c
@@ -192,6 +192,9 @@ static int strv_strndup_unescape_and_push(
                 const char *start,
                 const char *end) {
 
+        if (end == start)
+                return 0;
+
         _cleanup_free_ char *copy = NULL;
         int r;
 
@@ -270,14 +273,12 @@ static int xdg_config_parse_strv(
                 }
         }
 
-        /* Any trailing entry should be ignored if it is empty. */
-        if (end > start) {
-                r = strv_strndup_unescape_and_push(unit, filename, line,
-                                                   &sv, &n_allocated, &n,
-                                                   start, end);
-                if (r < 0)
-                        return r;
-        }
+        /* Handle the trailing entry after the last separator */
+        r = strv_strndup_unescape_and_push(unit, filename, line,
+                                           &sv, &n_allocated, &n,
+                                           start, end);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
 
         *ret_sv = TAKE_PTR(sv);
         return 0;