diff --git a/launcher/src/code-workspace.ts b/launcher/src/code-workspace.ts
index bd97c3bc634c..2dce32369e79 100644
--- a/launcher/src/code-workspace.ts
+++ b/launcher/src/code-workspace.ts
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ export class CodeWorkspace {
       return;
     }
 
+    const projectsRoot = env.PROJECTS_ROOT;
+
     let path: string | undefined;
     let workspace: Workspace | undefined;
 
@@ -112,6 +114,15 @@ export class CodeWorkspace {
         saveRequired = true;
       }
 
+      // Ensure the workspace always opens at least the projects root.
+      // Empty workspaces (no projects, dependentProjects or starterProjects) would
+      // otherwise produce a `.code-workspace` file with no `folders`, causing the
+      // editor to open with an empty Explorer and nothing mounted.
+      if (!workspace!.folders || workspace!.folders.length === 0) {
+        workspace!.folders = [{ name: 'projects', path: projectsRoot }];
+        saveRequired = true;
+      }
+
       // write workspace file only if it has been changed
       if (saveRequired) {
         const json = JSON.stringify(workspace, null, '\t');
diff --git a/launcher/tests/_data/flattened.devworkspace.empty.yaml b/launcher/tests/_data/flattened.devworkspace.empty.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..959dd37742c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/launcher/tests/_data/flattened.devworkspace.empty.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+attributes:
+  controller.devfile.io/devworkspace-config:
+    name: devworkspace-config
+    namespace: dogfooding
+  controller.devfile.io/storage-type: per-workspace
+components:
+- attributes:
+    app.kubernetes.io/component: che-code-runtime
+    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: che-code.eclipse.org
+    controller.devfile.io/merged-contributions: editor
+  container:
+    cpuLimit: "4"
+    image: quay.io/che-incubator/che-code-dev:insiders
+    memoryLimit: 13Gi
+    memoryRequest: 320Mi
+    sourceMapping: /projects
+  name: dev
+- name: projects
+  volume:
+    size: 3Gi
diff --git a/launcher/tests/code-workspace.spec.ts b/launcher/tests/code-workspace.spec.ts
index d7a54ef1cf27..7e1049330b25 100644
--- a/launcher/tests/code-workspace.spec.ts
+++ b/launcher/tests/code-workspace.spec.ts
@@ -78,6 +78,15 @@ const WORKSPACE_WITH_FIVE_PROJECTS = `{
 \t]
 }`;
 
+const WORKSPACE_WITH_PROJECTS_ROOT = `{
+\t"folders": [
+\t\t{
+\t\t\t"name": "projects",
+\t\t\t"path": "/tmp/projects"
+\t\t}
+\t]
+}`;
+
 const WORKSPACE_WITH_DEPENDENT_PROJECTS = `{
 \t"folders": [
 \t\t{
@@ -462,6 +471,43 @@ describe('Test generating VS Code Workspace file:', () => {
     expect(writeFileMock).toBeCalledWith('/tmp/projects/.code-workspace', WORKSPACE_WITH_DEPENDENT_PROJECTS);
   });
 
+  test('should add PROJECTS_ROOT as a default folder when the workspace has no projects', async () => {
+    env.PROJECTS_ROOT = '/tmp/projects';
+
+    env.DEVWORKSPACE_FLATTENED_DEVFILE = path.join(__dirname, '_data', 'flattened.devworkspace.empty.yaml');
+
+    const pathExistsMock = jest.fn();
+    const writeFileMock = jest.fn();
+    const readFileMock = jest.fn();
+
+    Object.assign(fs, {
+      pathExists: pathExistsMock,
+      writeFile: writeFileMock,
+      readFile: readFileMock,
+    });
+
+    readFileMock.mockImplementation(async (path) => {
+      if (path === env.DEVWORKSPACE_FLATTENED_DEVFILE) {
+        return originalReadFile(path);
+      }
+
+      return undefined;
+    });
+
+    // no project directories exist and no default .code-workspace file is present
+    pathExistsMock.mockImplementation(async () => false);
+
+    const codeWorkspace = new CodeWorkspace();
+    await codeWorkspace.generate();
+
+    // should read only the flattened devworkspace file
+    expect(readFileMock).toBeCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(readFileMock).toBeCalledWith(env.DEVWORKSPACE_FLATTENED_DEVFILE);
+
+    // should create a default workspace file that opens the projects root
+    expect(writeFileMock).toBeCalledWith('/tmp/projects/.code-workspace', WORKSPACE_WITH_PROJECTS_ROOT);
+  });
+
   test('should parse .code-workspace file if the file has extra characters', async () => {
     env.PROJECTS_ROOT = '/tmp/projects';