diff --git a/lib/chef/knife/search.rb b/lib/chef/knife/search.rb
index 34d12168b6e..caca99b4d8b 100644
--- a/lib/chef/knife/search.rb
+++ b/lib/chef/knife/search.rb
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class Search < Knife
         :short => "-R INT",
         :long => "--rows INT",
         :description => "The number of rows to return",
-        :default => 1000,
+        :default => nil,
         :proc => lambda { |i| i.to_i }
 
       option :run_list,
@@ -92,9 +92,9 @@ def run
         result_count = 0
 
         search_args = Hash.new
-        search_args[:sort] = config[:sort]
-        search_args[:start] = config[:start]
-        search_args[:rows] = config[:rows]
+        search_args[:sort] = config[:sort] if config[:sort]
+        search_args[:start] = config[:start] if config[:start]
+        search_args[:rows] = config[:rows] if config[:rows]
         if config[:filter_result]
           search_args[:filter_result] = create_result_filter(config[:filter_result])
         elsif (not ui.config[:attribute].nil?) && (not ui.config[:attribute].empty?)
diff --git a/lib/chef/search/query.rb b/lib/chef/search/query.rb
index 7ca122c986f..b68749f1969 100644
--- a/lib/chef/search/query.rb
+++ b/lib/chef/search/query.rb
@@ -88,8 +88,8 @@ def search(type, query='*:*', *args, &block)
 
         if block
           response["rows"].each { |row| block.call(row) if row }
-          if response["start"] + response["rows"].size < response["total"]
-            start = response["start"] + rows
+          unless (response["start"] + response["rows"].length) >= response["total"]
+            args_h[:start] = response["start"] + (args_h[:rows] || 0)
             search(type, query, args_h, &block)
           end
           true
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ def escape(s)
       end
 
       def call_rest_service(type, query:'*:*', rows:nil, start:0, sort:'X_CHEF_id_CHEF_X asc', filter_result:nil)
-        query_string = "search/#{type}?q=#{escape(query)}&sort=#{escape(sort)}&start=#{escape(start)}&rows=#{escape(rows)}"
+        query_string = "search/#{type}?q=#{escape(query)}&sort=#{escape(sort)}&start=#{escape(start)}#{"&rows=" + escape(rows) if rows}"
 
         if filter_result
           response = rest.post_rest(query_string, filter_result)