diff --git a/news/13567.bugfix.rst b/news/13567.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bff3c5431a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/13567.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Do not break with FileNotFoundError when loading site-config-dir location from windows registry (CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA).
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/utils/appdirs.py b/src/pip/_internal/utils/appdirs.py
index 4152528f68c..367271beabc 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/utils/appdirs.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/utils/appdirs.py
@@ -44,9 +44,15 @@ def site_config_dirs(appname: str) -> list[str]:
         dirval = _appdirs.site_data_dir(appname, appauthor=False, multipath=True)
         return dirval.split(os.pathsep)
 
-    dirval = _appdirs.site_config_dir(appname, appauthor=False, multipath=True)
     if sys.platform == "win32":
-        return [dirval]
+        try:
+            # Causes FileNotFoundError on attempt to access a registry key that does
+            # not exist. This should not break apart pip configuration loading.
+            dirval = _appdirs.site_config_dir(appname, appauthor=False, multipath=True)
+            return [dirval]
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            return []
 
     # Unix-y system. Look in /etc as well.
+    dirval = _appdirs.site_config_dir(appname, appauthor=False, multipath=True)
     return dirval.split(os.pathsep) + ["/etc"]