diff --git a/includes/entity.inc b/includes/entity.inc
index 5f721f1d9c6..ae780779462 100644
--- a/includes/entity.inc
+++ b/includes/entity.inc
@@ -1263,12 +1263,11 @@ class EntityFieldQuery {
   /**
    * Get the total number of results and initialize a pager for the query.
    *
-   * This query can be detected by checking for ($this->pager && $this->count),
-   * which allows a driver to return 0 from the count query and disable
-   * the pager.
+   * The pager can be disabled by either setting the pager limit to 0, or by
+   * setting this query to be a count query.
    */
   function initializePager() {
-    if ($this->pager && !$this->count) {
+    if ($this->pager && !empty($this->pager['limit']) && !$this->count) {
       $page = pager_find_page($this->pager['element']);
       $count_query = clone $this;
       $this->pager['total'] = $count_query->count()->execute();
diff --git a/modules/simpletest/tests/entity_query.test b/modules/simpletest/tests/entity_query.test
index d5e5524f276..ddfd35433b7 100644
--- a/modules/simpletest/tests/entity_query.test
+++ b/modules/simpletest/tests/entity_query.test
@@ -1408,6 +1408,27 @@ class EntityFieldQueryTestCase extends DrupalWebTestCase {
     unset($_GET['page']);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Tests disabling the pager in EntityFieldQuery.
+   */
+  function testEntityFieldQueryDisablePager() {
+    // Test enabling a pager and then disabling it.
+    $query = new EntityFieldQuery();
+    $query
+      ->entityCondition('entity_type', 'test_entity_bundle_key')
+      ->propertyOrderBy('ftid', 'ASC')
+      ->pager(1)
+      ->pager(0);
+    $this->assertEntityFieldQuery($query, array(
+      array('test_entity_bundle_key', 1),
+      array('test_entity_bundle_key', 2),
+      array('test_entity_bundle_key', 3),
+      array('test_entity_bundle_key', 4),
+      array('test_entity_bundle_key', 5),
+      array('test_entity_bundle_key', 6),
+    ), 'All test entities are listed when the pager is enabled and then disabled.', TRUE);
+  }
+
   /**
    * Tests the TableSort integration of EntityFieldQuery.
    */