diff --git a/crates/kms/src/backends/scripted_vault.rs b/crates/kms/src/backends/scripted_vault.rs
index 16deff392..2450c7625 100644
--- a/crates/kms/src/backends/scripted_vault.rs
+++ b/crates/kms/src/backends/scripted_vault.rs
@@ -57,6 +57,17 @@ impl ScriptedResponse {
         }
     }
 
+    /// The 404 Vault answers a LIST of an empty path with: something routed the
+    /// request and found nothing under it, so the `errors` array comes back
+    /// empty. [`ScriptedResponse::error`] cannot stand in — it always fills
+    /// `errors`, which is what marks a 404 as an unrouted path instead.
+    pub(crate) fn empty_list_404() -> Self {
+        Self::Http {
+            status: 404,
+            body: serde_json::json!({ "errors": [] }).to_string(),
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Close the connection after consuming a request without sending an HTTP response.
     pub(crate) fn close() -> Self {
         Self::Close
diff --git a/crates/kms/src/backends/vault.rs b/crates/kms/src/backends/vault.rs
index 6cc822874..86caf430f 100644
--- a/crates/kms/src/backends/vault.rs
+++ b/crates/kms/src/backends/vault.rs
@@ -424,6 +424,47 @@ fn is_cas_conflict(error: &ClientError) -> bool {
     )
 }
 
+/// Whether a Vault LIST failed with the 404 that means "the path was routed,
+/// and there is nothing under it".
+///
+/// Vault answers a LIST of a path holding no entries with a 404 whose `errors`
+/// array is empty. A path with no mount behind it answers with the same status
+/// but carries a "no handler for route" message, so the empty `errors` array is
+/// what separates "reachable but empty" from "nothing mounted there".
+/// `ClientError`'s `Display` renders both as a bare "(status code 404)", so the
+/// distinction survives only on the typed error.
+///
+/// This separates a routed path from an unrouted one, not a correct mount from
+/// a wrong one. Two configurations still read as empty: a `kv_mount` pointing at
+/// a KV v1 engine, which routes the KV2 metadata path and finds nothing under
+/// it, and (on OSS Vault) a `namespace` that does not exist. Telling those apart
+/// needs a `sys/mounts` read the KMS token is not required to be allowed to
+/// make, so no LIST-based probe can catch them.
+fn is_empty_vault_list(error: &ClientError) -> bool {
+    matches!(error, ClientError::APIError { code: 404, errors } if errors.is_empty())
+}
+
+/// Message for a KV2 listing failure, naming the mount it was made against.
+///
+/// `ClientError`'s `Display` carries only the status code — never the `errors`
+/// array, and for a body it could not parse not even that — so on its own it
+/// reaches the operator as an unexplained failure against an unnamed mount.
+/// Vault's own message says which route found no handler, so it rides along.
+/// What Vault reported is repeated rather than diagnosed: a message-bearing 404
+/// also covers a mount of the wrong type and, on Vault Enterprise, a mount
+/// filtered out of this namespace or replica.
+///
+/// `listed` names what was being listed (`"keys"`, `"key version records"`) and
+/// only reaches error text, never a metric label.
+fn describe_kv2_list_failure(kv_mount: &str, listed: &str, error: &ClientError) -> String {
+    match error {
+        ClientError::APIError { code: 404, errors } => {
+            format!("Failed to list {listed} in Vault kv_mount '{kv_mount}': {}", errors.join("; "))
+        }
+        other => format!("Failed to list {listed} in Vault kv_mount '{kv_mount}': {other}"),
+    }
+}
+
 /// Map a KV2 record read failure onto the typed error surface.
 ///
 /// The three record-level outcomes are told apart from a backend outcome here,
@@ -952,9 +993,15 @@ impl VaultKmsClient {
                 let vault = self.vault().map_err(AttemptError::fatal)?;
                 match kv2::list(&vault.client, &self.kv_mount, &self.key_path_prefix).await {
                     Ok(keys) => Ok(Some(keys)),
-                    Err(ClientError::ResponseWrapError) | Err(ClientError::APIError { code: 404, .. }) => Ok(None),
+                    Err(ClientError::ResponseWrapError) => Ok(None),
+                    // The prefix holds nothing until the first key is created,
+                    // which is where every deployment starts. A 404 that
+                    // carries a Vault message instead means the request found
+                    // no mount to answer it, and that is a configuration
+                    // failure, not an empty listing.
+                    Err(error) if is_empty_vault_list(&error) => Ok(None),
                     Err(e) => Err(AttemptError::from_vaultrs(e, |e| {
-                        KmsError::backend_error(format!("Failed to list keys in Vault: {e}"))
+                        KmsError::backend_error(describe_kv2_list_failure(&self.kv_mount, "keys", &e))
                     })),
                 }
             })
@@ -976,7 +1023,10 @@ impl VaultKmsClient {
     /// List the names of a key's immutable version records.
     ///
     /// `None` means the versions directory does not exist — the key was never
-    /// rotated and has no version records.
+    /// rotated and has no version records. A 404 that carries a Vault message is
+    /// not that: `delete_key` purges the version records this returns before it
+    /// removes the key itself, so an unrouted path read as "no versions" would
+    /// turn the purge into a no-op and leave master key material behind.
     async fn list_key_version_records(&self, key_id: &str) -> Result<Option<Vec<String>>> {
         let versions_dir = self.key_versions_dir(key_id);
         let versions_dir = versions_dir.as_str();
@@ -984,9 +1034,10 @@ impl VaultKmsClient {
             let vault = self.vault().map_err(AttemptError::fatal)?;
             match kv2::list(&vault.client, &self.kv_mount, versions_dir).await {
                 Ok(versions) => Ok(Some(versions)),
-                Err(ClientError::ResponseWrapError) | Err(ClientError::APIError { code: 404, .. }) => Ok(None),
+                Err(ClientError::ResponseWrapError) => Ok(None),
+                Err(error) if is_empty_vault_list(&error) => Ok(None),
                 Err(e) => Err(AttemptError::from_vaultrs(e, |e| {
-                    KmsError::backend_error(format!("Failed to list key version records in Vault: {e}"))
+                    KmsError::backend_error(describe_kv2_list_failure(&self.kv_mount, "key version records", &e))
                 })),
             }
         })
@@ -1827,22 +1878,19 @@ impl VaultKmsClient {
     pub(crate) async fn health_check(&self) -> Result<()> {
         debug!("Performing Vault health check");
 
-        // Use list_vault_keys but handle the case where no keys exist (which is normal)
+        // `list_vault_keys` already reports the empty-prefix 404 as an empty
+        // listing, which is the state every deployment starts in. Anything that
+        // reaches here is a real failure and must fail the check that gates
+        // startup — including the 404 from a `kv_mount` with no engine behind
+        // it, which no listing can be served from.
         match self.list_vault_keys().await {
             Ok(_) => {
                 debug!("Vault health check passed - successfully listed keys");
                 Ok(())
             }
             Err(e) => {
-                // Check if the error is specifically about "no keys found" or 404
-                let error_msg = e.to_string();
-                if error_msg.contains("status code 404") || error_msg.contains("No such key") {
-                    debug!("Vault health check passed - 404 error is expected when no keys exist yet");
-                    Ok(())
-                } else {
-                    warn!(error = %e, "Vault KMS health check failed");
-                    Err(e)
-                }
+                warn!(error = %e, "Vault KMS health check failed");
+                Err(e)
             }
         }
     }
@@ -2313,6 +2361,14 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    /// The 404 a Vault LIST answers with when no mount is routed at the path.
+    /// The message names the route, exactly as Vault writes it — so a test that
+    /// wants to prove the mount name was interpolated into an error cannot look
+    /// for the bare mount name, which this payload already contains.
+    fn missing_mount_404() -> ScriptedResponse {
+        ScriptedResponse::error(404, "no handler for route \"secret/metadata/rustfs/kms/keys/\". route entry not found.")
+    }
+
     /// KV2 read payload (the `data` field of the Vault envelope) for a key record.
     fn kv2_read_data(key_data: &VaultKeyData) -> serde_json::Value {
         serde_json::json!({
@@ -2410,6 +2466,136 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    /// A 404 whose `errors` array is empty is Vault reporting an empty prefix,
+    /// which is where every deployment starts: no key has been created yet, so
+    /// the health check that gates KMS startup must pass. Failing it would keep
+    /// a first-ever deployment from ever starting.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn health_check_passes_on_an_empty_kv2_prefix() {
+        let (vault, client) = scripted_client(vec![ScriptedResponse::empty_list_404()]).await;
+
+        client
+            .health_check()
+            .await
+            .expect("a mounted KV2 engine with no keys yet must pass the health check");
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            vault.requests(),
+            vec!["LIST /v1/secret/metadata/rustfs/kms/keys".to_string()],
+            "the check must list the configured mount and prefix, once"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// The same status with a Vault message behind it means nothing is routed at
+    /// `kv_mount`. That must fail the health check: passing it let a KMS whose
+    /// configured mount does not exist report itself healthy at startup and then
+    /// answer every listing with "no keys".
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn health_check_fails_when_the_kv2_mount_is_missing() {
+        let (_vault, client) = scripted_client(vec![missing_mount_404()]).await;
+
+        let error = client
+            .health_check()
+            .await
+            .expect_err("a missing KV2 mount must fail the health check");
+        assert!(matches!(error, KmsError::BackendError { .. }), "got {error:?}");
+        let message = error.to_string();
+        // Not a bare `contains("secret")`: the scripted route text carries the
+        // mount name too, so only the composed phrase proves it was interpolated.
+        assert!(
+            message.contains("kv_mount 'secret'"),
+            "the failure must name the mount it was made against: {message}"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            message.contains("no handler for route"),
+            "the failure must carry Vault's own explanation: {message}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// A 404 whose body is not a Vault error at all — a reverse proxy's own page,
+    /// say — cannot be read as an empty prefix, and must still say which mount
+    /// failed. `vaultrs` only builds an `APIError` from a body it could parse, so
+    /// this arrives as a different variant and takes the fallback message.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn list_keys_fails_closed_on_a_404_whose_body_is_not_a_vault_error() {
+        let (_vault, client) = scripted_client(vec![ScriptedResponse::Http {
+            status: 404,
+            body: "<html><body>404 Not Found</body></html>".to_string(),
+        }])
+        .await;
+
+        let error = client
+            .list_keys(&ListKeysRequest::default(), None)
+            .await
+            .expect_err("a 404 that is not a Vault error must not read as an empty listing");
+        assert!(matches!(error, KmsError::BackendError { .. }), "got {error:?}");
+        assert!(
+            error.to_string().contains("kv_mount 'secret'"),
+            "an unparseable failure must still name the mount: {error}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// The empty-prefix 404 on the listing path is an empty result set, not a
+    /// backend failure.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn list_keys_returns_an_empty_page_on_an_empty_kv2_prefix() {
+        let (_vault, client) = scripted_client(vec![ScriptedResponse::empty_list_404()]).await;
+
+        let response = client
+            .list_keys(&ListKeysRequest::default(), None)
+            .await
+            .expect("an empty KV2 prefix must list as empty, not fail");
+        assert!(response.keys.is_empty(), "got {:?}", response.keys);
+        assert!(!response.truncated, "an empty listing has nothing left to page through");
+        assert_eq!(response.next_marker, None);
+    }
+
+    /// A missing mount must not read as "you have no keys": that answer is
+    /// indistinguishable from a KMS whose keys are all gone, and the deletion
+    /// sweep takes its census over exactly this listing.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn list_keys_fails_when_the_kv2_mount_is_missing() {
+        let (_vault, client) = scripted_client(vec![missing_mount_404()]).await;
+
+        let error = client
+            .list_keys(&ListKeysRequest::default(), None)
+            .await
+            .expect_err("a missing KV2 mount must fail the listing, not empty it");
+        assert!(matches!(error, KmsError::BackendError { .. }), "got {error:?}");
+        assert!(
+            error.to_string().contains("kv_mount 'secret'"),
+            "the failure must name the mount it was made against: {error}"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// The version-record listing takes the same discriminator, and for a
+    /// sharper reason: `delete_key` purges the records it returns before
+    /// removing the key, so an unrouted path read as "no versions" would skip
+    /// the purge and leave master key material in Vault.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn key_version_records_fail_when_the_kv2_mount_is_missing() {
+        let (_vault, client) = scripted_client(vec![missing_mount_404()]).await;
+
+        let error = client
+            .list_key_version_records("wired-key")
+            .await
+            .expect_err("a missing KV2 mount must not read as 'this key was never rotated'");
+        assert!(matches!(error, KmsError::BackendError { .. }), "got {error:?}");
+    }
+
+    /// A key that was never rotated has no versions directory, and Vault answers
+    /// that with the empty-list 404 — still "no version records", not a failure.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn key_version_records_are_absent_for_a_never_rotated_key() {
+        let (_vault, client) = scripted_client(vec![ScriptedResponse::empty_list_404()]).await;
+
+        let versions = client
+            .list_key_version_records("wired-key")
+            .await
+            .expect("a key with no versions directory must list as absent, not fail");
+        assert_eq!(versions, None);
+    }
+
     /// A record whose body is present but not a key record is corrupt material,
     /// not a backend problem — and the reported message carries only where the
     /// parse failed, never the values it tripped over.
@@ -2720,6 +2906,47 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    /// The scripted tests assert what this backend does with each of Vault's two
+    /// 404 shapes; this one asserts that Vault still produces the shape they
+    /// assume. An empty prefix must arrive as a 404 the client reads as an empty
+    /// listing — if a Vault release ever answered it differently, every scripted
+    /// test would stay green while a first-ever deployment stopped starting.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    #[ignore] // Requires a running Vault instance (dev mode)
+    async fn live_health_check_passes_on_an_empty_kv2_prefix() {
+        let config = VaultConfig {
+            key_path_prefix: format!("rustfs/kms/empty-probe/{}", uuid::Uuid::new_v4()),
+            ..integration_vault_config()
+        };
+        let client = VaultKmsClient::new(config, &KmsConfig::default()).await.expect("client");
+
+        client
+            .health_check()
+            .await
+            .expect("a prefix nothing was ever written to must pass the health check");
+    }
+
+    /// The other direction, against the same real Vault: a mount that does not
+    /// exist must fail the check that gates startup, and say which mount.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    #[ignore] // Requires a running Vault instance (dev mode)
+    async fn live_health_check_fails_when_the_kv2_mount_is_missing() {
+        let config = VaultConfig {
+            kv_mount: "rustfs-kms-definitely-not-mounted".to_string(),
+            ..integration_vault_config()
+        };
+        let client = VaultKmsClient::new(config, &KmsConfig::default()).await.expect("client");
+
+        let error = client
+            .health_check()
+            .await
+            .expect_err("a kv_mount with no engine behind it must fail the health check");
+        assert!(
+            error.to_string().contains("rustfs-kms-definitely-not-mounted"),
+            "the failure must name the mount it was made against: {error}"
+        );
+    }
+
     #[tokio::test]
     async fn test_key_version_paths_stay_under_the_key() {
         let client = VaultKmsClient::new(integration_vault_config(), &KmsConfig::default())
@@ -2840,6 +3067,45 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!is_cas_conflict(&not_found));
     }
 
+    /// The whole discriminator: same status, opposite meanings, told apart by
+    /// whether Vault attached a message.
+    #[test]
+    fn test_is_empty_vault_list_only_matches_the_empty_list_404() {
+        let empty_prefix = ClientError::APIError {
+            code: 404,
+            errors: Vec::new(),
+        };
+        assert!(is_empty_vault_list(&empty_prefix));
+
+        let missing_mount = ClientError::APIError {
+            code: 404,
+            errors: vec!["no handler for route \"secret/metadata/rustfs/kms/keys/\". route entry not found.".to_string()],
+        };
+        assert!(!is_empty_vault_list(&missing_mount));
+
+        // The mount name is deliberately one that cannot appear in the route
+        // text, so the assertion below can only pass by interpolation.
+        let message = describe_kv2_list_failure("kv-not-the-route", "keys", &missing_mount);
+        assert!(
+            message.contains("no handler for route"),
+            "the reported failure must carry Vault's own explanation, which its Display drops: {message}"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            message.contains("kv_mount 'kv-not-the-route'"),
+            "the reported failure must name the mount it was made against: {message}"
+        );
+
+        // Only a 404 means "not there"; every other status is an outcome of its
+        // own and must never be read as an empty listing.
+        for code in [400u16, 403, 500, 503] {
+            let other = ClientError::APIError {
+                code,
+                errors: Vec::new(),
+            };
+            assert!(!is_empty_vault_list(&other), "status {code}");
+        }
+    }
+
     fn integration_generate_request(key_id: &str) -> GenerateKeyRequest {
         GenerateKeyRequest {
             master_key_id: key_id.to_string(),
@@ -4235,8 +4501,9 @@ mod tests {
         let (vault, client) = scripted_client(vec![
             ScriptedResponse::ok(kv2_metadata_read_data(7)),
             ScriptedResponse::ok(kv2_read_data(&healthy_key_data())),
-            // The versions directory does not exist yet.
-            ScriptedResponse::error(404, "not found"),
+            // The versions directory does not exist yet: Vault reports that as a
+            // 404 with an empty `errors` array.
+            ScriptedResponse::empty_list_404(),
             // Freeze version 1, persist the baseline, create version 2, switch.
             ScriptedResponse::ok(kv2_write_ack()),
             ScriptedResponse::ok(kv2_write_ack()),
@@ -4606,7 +4873,10 @@ mod tests {
         /// directory at all.
         fn versions_listing(&self) -> ScriptedResponse {
             if self.version_records.is_empty() {
-                return ScriptedResponse::error(404, "not found");
+                // Vault answers a LIST of a path holding nothing with a 404
+                // carrying an empty `errors` array — not a message-bearing one,
+                // which would mean the path was never routed at all.
+                return ScriptedResponse::empty_list_404();
             }
             let keys: Vec<String> = self.version_records.iter().map(|record| record.version.to_string()).collect();
             ScriptedResponse::ok(serde_json::json!({ "keys": keys }))
diff --git a/crates/kms/src/config.rs b/crates/kms/src/config.rs
index 5958542f8..d80cdeb78 100644
--- a/crates/kms/src/config.rs
+++ b/crates/kms/src/config.rs
@@ -868,6 +868,14 @@ impl KmsConfig {
                 // `mount_path` is deprecated and unused by this backend, so an empty value
                 // is deliberately not an error.
 
+                // `kv_mount` is: it is the mount every read, write and listing is
+                // routed through, and an empty one produces a path Vault has no
+                // handler for. Rejecting it here names the setting; letting it
+                // through spends a round-trip to report an unroutable path.
+                if config.kv_mount.is_empty() {
+                    return Err(KmsError::configuration_error("Vault KV2 mount cannot be empty"));
+                }
+
                 // Validate TLS configuration if using HTTPS
                 if config.address.starts_with("https://")
                     && let Some(ref tls) = config.tls
@@ -1967,6 +1975,34 @@ mod tests {
             .expect("well-formed token file auth must validate");
     }
 
+    /// Every KV2 read, write and listing is routed through `kv_mount`, so an
+    /// empty one names a path no Vault engine answers. The Transit backend
+    /// already rejects its own empty mounts; this closes the same gap on the
+    /// setting whose absence otherwise surfaces as an unroutable-path failure at
+    /// the first Vault call.
+    #[test]
+    fn test_validate_rejects_an_empty_kv2_mount() {
+        let kv2_config = |kv_mount: &str| KmsConfig {
+            backend: KmsBackend::VaultKv2,
+            backend_config: BackendConfig::VaultKv2(Box::new(VaultConfig {
+                address: "https://vault.example.com:8200".to_string(),
+                auth_method: VaultAuthMethod::Token {
+                    token: "a-real-token".to_string(),
+                },
+                kv_mount: kv_mount.to_string(),
+                ..Default::default()
+            })),
+            ..Default::default()
+        };
+
+        let error = kv2_config("")
+            .validate()
+            .expect_err("an empty KV2 mount must be rejected as a configuration error");
+        assert!(error.to_string().contains("mount"), "got {error}");
+
+        kv2_config("secret").validate().expect("a named KV2 mount must validate");
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_approle_config_deserializes_legacy_shape_with_defaults() {
         // Persisted configurations from before the AppRole implementation only
diff --git a/helm/rustfs/templates/configmap.yaml b/helm/rustfs/templates/configmap.yaml
index ea7b50b47..46e8331f8 100644
--- a/helm/rustfs/templates/configmap.yaml
+++ b/helm/rustfs/templates/configmap.yaml
@@ -142,6 +142,11 @@ data:
   RUSTFS_KMS_DEFAULT_KEY_ID: {{ .default_key | quote }}
         {{- if eq .vault_backend "vault-transit" }}
   RUSTFS_KMS_VAULT_MOUNT_PATH: {{ .vault_mount_path | quote }}
+        {{- else if .vault_mount_path }}
+  {{- /* The KV2 backend never calls the Transit engine: its mount is the KV2
+         one, under a different variable. Emitted only when set, so an unset
+         value keeps falling back to the "secret" default. */}}
+  RUSTFS_KMS_VAULT_KV_MOUNT: {{ .vault_mount_path | quote }}
         {{- end }}
       {{- end }}
     {{- end }}
diff --git a/helm/rustfs/values.yaml b/helm/rustfs/values.yaml
index b1cf31936..19826df96 100644
--- a/helm/rustfs/values.yaml
+++ b/helm/rustfs/values.yaml
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ config:
         vault_backend: "" # Only support vault kv2 and vault transit.
         vault_address: ""
         vault_token: "" # Rendered into a dedicated Secret, never into the config ConfigMap.
-        vault_mount_path: ""
+        vault_mount_path: "" # Transit engine mount for vault-transit; KV2 engine mount for vault. Unset means "secret" for KV2, which only a dev-mode Vault has by default.
         default_key: ""