diff --git a/internal/terraform/rootmodule/root_module_manager.go b/internal/terraform/rootmodule/root_module_manager.go
index 801aa75af..7f6ea68f2 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/rootmodule/root_module_manager.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/rootmodule/root_module_manager.go
@@ -142,7 +142,13 @@ func (rmm *rootModuleManager) SchemaForPath(path string) (*schema.BodySchema, er
 			return schema, nil
 		}
 	}
-	return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to find schema for %s", path)
+
+	rm, err := rmm.RootModuleByPath(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return rm.MergedSchema()
 }
 
 func (rmm *rootModuleManager) rootModuleByPath(dir string) (*rootModule, bool) {
diff --git a/internal/terraform/rootmodule/root_module_manager_test.go b/internal/terraform/rootmodule/root_module_manager_test.go
index 958c89c20..2778d37d1 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/rootmodule/root_module_manager_test.go
+++ b/internal/terraform/rootmodule/root_module_manager_test.go
@@ -457,6 +457,27 @@ func TestRootModuleManager_RootModuleCandidatesByPath(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSchemaForPath_uninitialized(t *testing.T) {
+	rmm := testRootModuleManager(t)
+
+	testData, err := filepath.Abs("testdata")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	path := filepath.Join(testData, "uninitialized-root")
+
+	// model is added automatically during didOpen
+	_, err = rmm.AddAndStartLoadingRootModule(context.Background(), path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	_, err = rmm.SchemaForPath(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+}
+
 func testRootModuleManager(t *testing.T) *rootModuleManager {
 	fs := filesystem.NewFilesystem()
 	rmm := newRootModuleManager(fs)
diff --git a/internal/terraform/rootmodule/testdata/README.md b/internal/terraform/rootmodule/testdata/README.md
index d77eeeeef..30a49bfca 100644
--- a/internal/terraform/rootmodule/testdata/README.md
+++ b/internal/terraform/rootmodule/testdata/README.md
@@ -23,3 +23,7 @@ which the language server supports and is tested against.
  - `multi-root-no-modules`
  - `multi-root-local-modules-down`
  - `multi-root-local-modules-up` - e.g. https://github.com/terraform-aws-modules/terraform-aws-security-group
+
+## Uninitialized Root
+
+ - `uninitialized-root`
diff --git a/internal/terraform/rootmodule/testdata/uninitialized-root/main.tf b/internal/terraform/rootmodule/testdata/uninitialized-root/main.tf
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5ec9731af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/terraform/rootmodule/testdata/uninitialized-root/main.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+variable "meal" {
+  default = "delicious"
+}