diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/ci.py b/lib/spack/spack/ci.py
index fc847d18e60..bc661e09701 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/ci.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/ci.py
@@ -1110,7 +1110,8 @@ def main_script_replacements(cmd):
             cdash_handler.populate_buildgroup(all_job_names)
         except (SpackError, HTTPError, URLError, TimeoutError) as err:
             tty.warn(f"Problem populating buildgroup: {err}")
-    else:
+    elif cdash_config:
+        # warn only if there was actually a CDash configuration.
         tty.warn("Unable to populate buildgroup without CDash credentials")
 
     service_job_retries = {