diff --git a/eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/set-default-branch.yml b/eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/set-default-branch.yml
index b66478975a6c..e3eed4512d97 100644
--- a/eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/set-default-branch.yml
+++ b/eng/common/pipelines/templates/steps/set-default-branch.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,12 @@ parameters:
 steps:
 - pwsh: |
     $setDefaultBranch = (git remote show ${{ parameters.RemoteRepo }} | Out-String) -replace "(?ms).*HEAD branch: (\w+).*", '$1'
+    if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+      Write-Host "Not able to fetch the default branch from git command. Set to master."
+      $setDefaultBranch = 'master'
+    }
     Write-Host "Setting DefaultBranch=$setDefaultBranch"
-    echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=DefaultBranch]$setDefaultBranch"
+    Write-Host "##vso[task.setvariable variable=DefaultBranch]$setDefaultBranch"
   displayName: "Setup Default Branch"
   workingDirectory: ${{ parameters.workingDirectory }}
+  ignoreLASTEXITCODE: true