diff --git a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
index 6fe8899fb..9c7c436bc 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoader.php
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ class RootPackageLoader extends ArrayLoader
         if (!isset($config['name'])) {
             $config['name'] = '__root__';
         }
+        $autoVersioned = false;
         if (!isset($config['version'])) {
             // override with env var if available
             if (getenv('COMPOSER_ROOT_VERSION')) {
@@ -60,17 +61,21 @@ class RootPackageLoader extends ArrayLoader
 
             if (!$version) {
                 $version = '1.0.0';
+                $autoVersioned = true;
             }
 
             $config['version'] = $version;
         }
 
         $realPackage = $package = parent::load($config, $class);
-
         if ($realPackage instanceof AliasPackage) {
             $realPackage = $package->getAliasOf();
         }
 
+        if ($autoVersioned) {
+            $realPackage->replaceVersion($realPackage->getVersion(), 'No version set (parsed as 1.0.0)');
+        }
+
         if (isset($config['minimum-stability'])) {
             $realPackage->setMinimumStability(VersionParser::normalizeStability($config['minimum-stability']));
         }
diff --git a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
index 07aaf7034..37c259676 100644
--- a/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
+++ b/tests/Composer/Test/Package/Loader/RootPackageLoaderTest.php
@@ -118,6 +118,31 @@ class RootPackageLoaderTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
         $this->assertEquals("dev-foo", $package->getVersion());
     }
 
+    public function testNoVersionIsVisibleInPrettyVersion()
+    {
+        $manager = $this->getMockBuilder('\\Composer\\Repository\\RepositoryManager')
+            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
+            ->getMock();
+
+        $self = $this;
+
+        /* Can do away with this mock object when https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit-mock-objects/issues/81 is fixed */
+        $processExecutor = $this->getMockBuilder('Composer\Util\ProcessExecutor')
+            ->disableOriginalConstructor()
+            ->getMock();
+        $processExecutor->expects($this->any())
+            ->method('execute')
+            ->willReturn(null);
+
+        $config = new Config;
+        $config->merge(array('repositories' => array('packagist' => false)));
+        $loader = new RootPackageLoader($manager, $config, null, $processExecutor);
+        $package = $loader->load(array());
+
+        $this->assertEquals("1.0.0.0", $package->getVersion());
+        $this->assertEquals("No version set (parsed as 1.0.0)", $package->getPrettyVersion());
+    }
+
     protected function loadPackage($data)
     {
         $manager = $this->getMockBuilder('\\Composer\\Repository\\RepositoryManager')