diff --git a/deepspeed/runtime/zero/partition_parameters.py b/deepspeed/runtime/zero/partition_parameters.py
index 7b7c50454874..f3b07eb81eae 100755
--- a/deepspeed/runtime/zero/partition_parameters.py
+++ b/deepspeed/runtime/zero/partition_parameters.py
@@ -880,6 +880,35 @@ def _no_gather_coalesced(params: Iterable[Parameter]) -> AllGatherCoalescedHandl
     return NoGatherCoalescedHandle(params)
 
 
+def _unsharded_single_rank_warning(dp_world_size, data_parallel_group, env=None):
+    """Detect the silent single-rank fallback described in #8084.
+
+    When a multi-process launcher (``deepspeed``, ``torchrun``, accelerate, ...) sets ``WORLD_SIZE > 1`` but the
+    distributed process group was not initialized before ``zero.Init`` ran, the group resolved here collapses to a
+    single rank. ``zero.Init`` then creates every parameter whole on every rank instead of partitioning it, so each
+    rank allocates the full (unsharded) model and typically OOMs. The failure is otherwise silent and looks exactly
+    like a "model too big" OOM. Return an actionable warning message in that case, else ``None``.
+
+    Only the default (world-group) path is checked: an explicitly supplied ``data_parallel_group`` of size 1 is
+    treated as intentional.
+    """
+    if dp_world_size != 1 or data_parallel_group is not None:
+        return None
+    env = os.environ if env is None else env
+    try:
+        launcher_world_size = int(env.get("WORLD_SIZE", "0") or "0")
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        return None
+    if launcher_world_size <= 1:
+        return None
+    return (
+        "zero.Init resolved a process group of world_size=1, but the launcher environment reports "
+        f"WORLD_SIZE={launcher_world_size}. The distributed process group was likely not initialized before "
+        "zero.Init ran (for example, `from_pretrained` executed before `deepspeed.init_distributed()`). Parameters "
+        "will NOT be partitioned: every rank allocates the full model and will likely OOM. Call "
+        "`deepspeed.init_distributed()` before constructing the model under zero.Init.")
+
+
 # Replaces all parameters in module with Scattered Parameters
 class Init(InsertPostInitMethodToModuleSubClasses):
     param_id = 0
@@ -1035,6 +1064,10 @@ def __init__(self,
         self.rank = dist.get_rank(group=self.ds_process_group)
         self.dp_world_size = dist.get_world_size(group=self.ds_process_group)
 
+        _unsharded_warning = _unsharded_single_rank_warning(self.dp_world_size, data_parallel_group)
+        if _unsharded_warning is not None:
+            logger.warning(_unsharded_warning)
+
         self.zero_param_process_group = zero_param_parallel_group
         if _ds_config is not None and _ds_config.zero_config.zero_hpz_partition_size > 1 and self.zero_param_process_group is None:
             groups._create_zero_param_parallel_group(_ds_config.zero_config.zero_hpz_partition_size)
diff --git a/tests/unit/runtime/zero/test_zero_init_unsharded_warning.py b/tests/unit/runtime/zero/test_zero_init_unsharded_warning.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..11fc045b4345
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/runtime/zero/test_zero_init_unsharded_warning.py
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+# DeepSpeed Team
+
+# Regression coverage for #8084: zero.Init silently falls back to a single-rank (unsharded) group when the
+# distributed process group is not initialized before it runs (e.g. `from_pretrained` before
+# `deepspeed.init_distributed()`), so every rank allocates the full model and OOMs. The detection helper must warn
+# only when the launcher reports a multi-process world but the resolved group collapsed to one rank.
+
+import pytest
+
+from deepspeed.runtime.zero.partition_parameters import _unsharded_single_rank_warning
+
+
+def test_warns_when_launcher_multiprocess_but_group_is_single_rank():
+    msg = _unsharded_single_rank_warning(dp_world_size=1, data_parallel_group=None, env={"WORLD_SIZE": "8"})
+    assert msg is not None
+    assert "WORLD_SIZE=8" in msg
+    assert "init_distributed" in msg
+
+
+def test_no_warning_for_genuine_single_process():
+    assert _unsharded_single_rank_warning(dp_world_size=1, data_parallel_group=None, env={"WORLD_SIZE": "1"}) is None
+    assert _unsharded_single_rank_warning(dp_world_size=1, data_parallel_group=None, env={}) is None
+
+
+def test_no_warning_when_group_actually_shards():
+    assert _unsharded_single_rank_warning(dp_world_size=8, data_parallel_group=None, env={"WORLD_SIZE": "8"}) is None
+
+
+def test_no_warning_when_explicit_dp_group_supplied():
+    # An explicitly provided size-1 data_parallel_group is treated as intentional.
+    sentinel_group = object()
+    assert _unsharded_single_rank_warning(dp_world_size=1, data_parallel_group=sentinel_group, env={"WORLD_SIZE":
+                                                                                                    "8"}) is None
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("bad", ["", "not-an-int", None])
+def test_malformed_world_size_does_not_raise(bad):
+    assert _unsharded_single_rank_warning(dp_world_size=1, data_parallel_group=None, env={"WORLD_SIZE": bad}) is None