diff --git a/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/File.php b/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/File.php
index db1f92bacd..1fb1b654aa 100644
--- a/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/File.php
+++ b/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/File.php
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ class File extends Etemplate\Widget
 
 		if($xml) parent::__construct($xml);
 
+		// set fallback-id client-side uses
+		if (empty($this->id)) $this->id = 'file_widget';
+
 		// Legacy multiple - id ends in []
 		if(substr($this->id,-2) == '[]')
 		{
@@ -384,4 +387,4 @@ class File extends Etemplate\Widget
 			self::setElementAttribute($form_name, 'chunk_size', ($upload_max_filesize-1024*1024)/2);
 		}
 	}
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Vfs.php b/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Vfs.php
index 08138dd3d8..8100b5a7f4 100644
--- a/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Vfs.php
+++ b/api/src/Etemplate/Widget/Vfs.php
@@ -352,7 +352,7 @@ class Vfs extends File
 				parent::validate($cname, $expand, $content, $validated);
 				break;
 		}
-		if (true) $valid = $value;
+		if (!empty($this->id)) $valid = $value;
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -701,4 +701,4 @@ class Vfs extends File
 				$apps['api-accounts']);
 		return $apps;
 	}
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file