diff --git a/base/sysinfo.jl b/base/sysinfo.jl
index 6cc6b55198a77d..c6620d0c0245d6 100644
--- a/base/sysinfo.jl
+++ b/base/sysinfo.jl
@@ -401,8 +401,8 @@ function which(program_name::String)
         end
     end
 
-    # If we couldn't find anything, complain
-    error("$program_name not found")
+    # If we couldn't find anything, don't return anything
+    nothing
 end
 which(program_name::AbstractString) = which(String(program_name))
 
diff --git a/test/spawn.jl b/test/spawn.jl
index 5edfe11ab42213..6e0654c53bf98f 100644
--- a/test/spawn.jl
+++ b/test/spawn.jl
@@ -561,12 +561,12 @@ mktempdir() do dir
             @test Sys.which(foo_path) == realpath(foo_path)
 
             chmod(foo_path, 0o666)
-            @test_throws ErrorException Sys.which("foo")
-            @test_throws ErrorException Sys.which(foo_path)
+            @test Sys.which("foo") === nothing
+            @test Sys.which(foo_path) === nothing
         end
 
-        # Test that completely missing files also fail
-        @test_throws ErrorException Sys.which("this_is_not_a_command")
+        # Test that completely missing files also return nothing
+        @test Sys.which("this_is_not_a_command") === nothing
     end
 end