diff --git a/src/vs/platform/configuration/common/configurationRegistry.ts b/src/vs/platform/configuration/common/configurationRegistry.ts
index 3a7eaf96885..07680c0f29b 100644
--- a/src/vs/platform/configuration/common/configurationRegistry.ts
+++ b/src/vs/platform/configuration/common/configurationRegistry.ts
@@ -478,6 +478,9 @@ const configurationRegistry = new ConfigurationRegistry();
 Registry.add(Extensions.Configuration, configurationRegistry);
 
 export function validateProperty(property: string): string | null {
+	if (!property.trim()) {
+		return nls.localize('config.property.empty', "Cannot register an empty property");
+	}
 	if (OVERRIDE_PROPERTY_PATTERN.test(property)) {
 		return nls.localize('config.property.languageDefault', "Cannot register '{0}'. This matches property pattern '\\\\[.*\\\\]$' for describing language specific editor settings. Use 'configurationDefaults' contribution.", property);
 	}
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/api/common/configurationExtensionPoint.ts b/src/vs/workbench/api/common/configurationExtensionPoint.ts
index 83c0ab29ec7..aab5275fd5a 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/api/common/configurationExtensionPoint.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/api/common/configurationExtensionPoint.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ const configurationEntrySchema: IJSONSchema = {
 		properties: {
 			description: nls.localize('vscode.extension.contributes.configuration.properties', 'Description of the configuration properties.'),
 			type: 'object',
+			propertyNames: {
+				pattern: '\\S+',
+				patternErrorMessage: nls.localize('vscode.extension.contributes.configuration.property.empty', 'Property should not be empty.'),
+			},
 			additionalProperties: {
 				anyOf: [
 					{ $ref: 'http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#' },