diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder.java
index b90a1e60ffa0b..11530ce5f30b3 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder.java
@@ -1050,6 +1050,13 @@ protected Query doToQuery(QueryShardContext context) throws IOException {
         List<String> moreLikeFields = new ArrayList<>();
         if (useDefaultField) {
             moreLikeFields = context.defaultFields();
+            if (moreLikeFields.size() == 1
+                    && moreLikeFields.get(0).equals("*")
+                    && (likeTexts.length > 0 || unlikeTexts.length > 0)) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("[more_like_this] query cannot infer the field to analyze the free text, " +
+                    "you should update the [index.query.default_field] index setting to a field that exists in the mapping or " +
+                    "set the [fields] option in the query.");
+            }
         } else {
             for (String field : fields) {
                 MappedFieldType fieldType = context.fieldMapper(field);
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MoreLikeThisQueryBuilderTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MoreLikeThisQueryBuilderTests.java
index 62613139b50fd..56e7a32347265 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MoreLikeThisQueryBuilderTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/query/MoreLikeThisQueryBuilderTests.java
@@ -31,10 +31,12 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.termvectors.MultiTermVectorsResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.termvectors.TermVectorsRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.termvectors.TermVectorsResponse;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.io.stream.BytesStreamOutput;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.search.MoreLikeThisQuery;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory;
@@ -160,13 +162,13 @@ protected MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder doCreateTestQueryBuilder() {
         } else {
             likeItems = randomLikeItems;
         }
-        if (randomBoolean()) { // for the default field
-            queryBuilder = new MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder(likeTexts, likeItems);
+        if (randomBoolean() && likeItems != null && likeItems.length > 0) { // for the default field
+            queryBuilder = new MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder(null, likeItems);
         } else {
             queryBuilder = new MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder(randomFields, likeTexts, likeItems);
         }
 
-        if (randomBoolean()) {
+        if (randomBoolean() && queryBuilder.fields() != null) {
             queryBuilder.unlike(generateRandomStringArray(5, 5, false, false));
         }
         if (randomBoolean()) {
@@ -305,6 +307,39 @@ public void testUnsupportedFields() throws IOException {
         assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("more_like_this only supports text/keyword fields"));
     }
 
+    public void testDefaultField() throws IOException {
+        QueryShardContext context = createShardContext();
+
+        {
+            MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder builder =
+                new MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder(new String[]{"hello world"}, null);
+            IllegalArgumentException e = expectThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class,
+                () -> builder.toQuery(context));
+            assertThat(e.getMessage(), containsString("[more_like_this] query cannot infer"));
+        }
+
+        {
+            context.getIndexSettings().updateIndexMetaData(
+                newIndexMeta("index",
+                    context.getIndexSettings().getSettings(),
+                    Settings.builder().putList("index.query.default_field", STRING_FIELD_NAME).build()
+                )
+            );
+            try {
+                MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder builder = new MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder(new String[]{"hello world"}, null);
+                builder.toQuery(context);
+            } finally {
+                // Reset the default value
+                context.getIndexSettings().updateIndexMetaData(
+                    newIndexMeta("index",
+                        context.getIndexSettings().getSettings(),
+                        Settings.builder().putList("index.query.default_field", "*").build()
+                    )
+                );
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     public void testMoreLikeThisBuilder() throws Exception {
         Query parsedQuery =
             parseQuery(moreLikeThisQuery(new String[]{"name.first", "name.last"}, new String[]{"something"}, null)
@@ -390,4 +425,11 @@ protected QueryBuilder parseQuery(XContentParser parser) throws IOException {
         }
         return query;
     }
+
+    private static IndexMetaData newIndexMeta(String name, Settings oldIndexSettings, Settings indexSettings) {
+        Settings build = Settings.builder().put(oldIndexSettings)
+            .put(indexSettings)
+            .build();
+        return IndexMetaData.builder(name).settings(build).build();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/morelikethis/MoreLikeThisIT.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/morelikethis/MoreLikeThisIT.java
index 2e29c7c5a3815..4492353f6f15b 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/morelikethis/MoreLikeThisIT.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/morelikethis/MoreLikeThisIT.java
@@ -343,10 +343,10 @@ public void testNumericField() throws Exception {
                 new MoreLikeThisQueryBuilder(new String[] {"string_value", "int_value"}, null,
                         new Item[] {new Item("test", "1")}).minTermFreq(1).minDocFreq(1)), SearchPhaseExecutionException.class);
 
-        // mlt query with no field -> No results (because _all is not enabled)
-        searchResponse = client().prepareSearch().setQuery(moreLikeThisQuery(new String[] {"index"}).minTermFreq(1).minDocFreq(1))
-                .get();
-        assertHitCount(searchResponse, 0L);
+        // mlt query with no field -> exception because _all is not enabled)
+        assertThrows(client().prepareSearch()
+            .setQuery(moreLikeThisQuery(new String[] {"index"}).minTermFreq(1).minDocFreq(1)),
+            SearchPhaseExecutionException.class);
 
         // mlt query with string fields
         searchResponse = client().prepareSearch().setQuery(moreLikeThisQuery(new String[]{"string_value"}, new String[] {"index"}, null)