diff --git a/cassandra/cluster.py b/cassandra/cluster.py
index 12ade2018f..83fd55ef07 100644
--- a/cassandra/cluster.py
+++ b/cassandra/cluster.py
@@ -3892,14 +3892,13 @@ def _try_connect(self, endpoint):
                   "registering watchers and refreshing schema and topology",
                   connection)
 
-        # Indirect way to determine if conencted to a ScyllaDB cluster, which does not support peers_v2
-        # If sharding information is available, it's a ScyllaDB cluster, so do not use peers_v2 table.
-        if connection.features.sharding_info is not None:
+        # ScyllaDB does not support peers_v2.  Use is_scylla (not sharding_info)
+        # so that clusters with shard-awareness disabled are still detected correctly.
+        if connection.features.is_scylla:
             self._uses_peers_v2 = False
 
-        # Only ScyllaDB supports "USING TIMEOUT"
-        # Sharding information signals it is ScyllaDB
-        self._metadata_request_timeout = None if connection.features.sharding_info is None or not self._cluster.metadata_request_timeout \
+        # Only ScyllaDB supports "USING TIMEOUT".  Use is_scylla for the same reason.
+        self._metadata_request_timeout = None if not connection.features.is_scylla or not self._cluster.metadata_request_timeout \
             else datetime.timedelta(seconds=self._cluster.metadata_request_timeout)
 
         self._tablets_routing_v1 = connection.features.tablets_routing_v1
diff --git a/cassandra/metadata.py b/cassandra/metadata.py
index 43399b7152..72bb5ff4da 100644
--- a/cassandra/metadata.py
+++ b/cassandra/metadata.py
@@ -2578,8 +2578,14 @@ class SchemaParserV3(SchemaParserV22):
     _SELECT_VIEWS = "SELECT * FROM system_schema.views"
 
     def _is_not_scylla(self):
-        """Check if NOT connected to ScyllaDB by checking for shard awareness."""
-        return getattr(getattr(self.connection, 'features', None), 'shard_id', None) is None
+        """Check if NOT connected to ScyllaDB.
+
+        Uses ProtocolFeatures.is_scylla, which is set from Scylla-specific
+        extension keys in the SUPPORTED response and therefore stays True
+        even when shard-awareness is disabled server-side.
+        """
+        features = getattr(self.connection, 'features', None)
+        return not (features is not None and features.is_scylla)
 
     _table_name_col = 'table_name'
 
diff --git a/cassandra/protocol_features.py b/cassandra/protocol_features.py
index 1bad379208..c410e39d46 100644
--- a/cassandra/protocol_features.py
+++ b/cassandra/protocol_features.py
@@ -17,15 +17,17 @@ class ProtocolFeatures(object):
     sharding_info = None
     tablets_routing_v1 = False
     lwt_info = None
+    is_scylla = False
 
     # Keyword-only so that independently developed protocol extensions can add
     # new fields without conflicting over positional-argument order.
-    def __init__(self, *, rate_limit_error=None, shard_id=0, sharding_info=None, tablets_routing_v1=False, lwt_info=None):
+    def __init__(self, *, rate_limit_error=None, shard_id=0, sharding_info=None, tablets_routing_v1=False, lwt_info=None, is_scylla=False):
         self.rate_limit_error = rate_limit_error
         self.shard_id = shard_id
         self.sharding_info = sharding_info
         self.tablets_routing_v1 = tablets_routing_v1
         self.lwt_info = lwt_info
+        self.is_scylla = is_scylla
 
     @staticmethod
     def parse_from_supported(supported):
@@ -33,8 +35,28 @@ def parse_from_supported(supported):
         shard_id, sharding_info = ProtocolFeatures.parse_sharding_info(supported)
         tablets_routing_v1 = ProtocolFeatures.parse_tablets_info(supported)
         lwt_info = ProtocolFeatures.parse_lwt_info(supported)
+        is_scylla = ProtocolFeatures.detect_scylla(supported, sharding_info)
         return ProtocolFeatures(rate_limit_error=rate_limit_error, shard_id=shard_id, sharding_info=sharding_info,
-                                tablets_routing_v1=tablets_routing_v1, lwt_info=lwt_info)
+                                tablets_routing_v1=tablets_routing_v1, lwt_info=lwt_info, is_scylla=is_scylla)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def detect_scylla(supported, sharding_info):
+        """Detect ScyllaDB from SUPPORTED extensions, independent of shard awareness.
+
+        ScyllaDB is identified by the presence of any known Scylla-specific
+        extension key in the SUPPORTED response.  Checking only shard-related
+        fields (SCYLLA_NR_SHARDS, etc.) is insufficient because those are
+        absent when shard-awareness is disabled on the server side
+        (allow_shard_aware_drivers: false), which would cause the driver to
+        misidentify a ScyllaDB cluster as Cassandra and, for example, try
+        to query the peers_v2 table that ScyllaDB does not support.
+        """
+        return (
+            LWT_ADD_METADATA_MARK in supported
+            or RATE_LIMIT_ERROR_EXTENSION in supported
+            or TABLETS_ROUTING_V1 in supported
+            or sharding_info is not None
+        )
 
     @staticmethod
     def maybe_parse_rate_limit_error(supported):
@@ -76,6 +98,16 @@ def parse_sharding_info(options):
             sharding_algorithm == "biased-token-round-robin" or sharding_ignore_msb):
             return 0, None
 
+        if shard_id is None or shards_count is None:
+            # ScyllaDB gates all sharding fields together behind a single
+            # allow_shard_aware_drivers server-side config, so this should
+            # not happen in practice. If it does, don't fabricate a partial
+            # ShardingInfo (that would break the invariant, relied on
+            # elsewhere, that a non-None sharding_info implies a real,
+            # positive shard count) -- just disable shard-aware routing.
+            log.warning("Incomplete Scylla sharding info in SUPPORTED (options=%s); disabling shard-aware routing", options)
+            return 0, None
+
         return int(shard_id), _ShardingInfo(shard_id, shards_count, partitioner, sharding_algorithm, sharding_ignore_msb,
                                             shard_aware_port, shard_aware_port_ssl)
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_protocol_features.py b/tests/unit/test_protocol_features.py
index 895c384f7e..3ab5aee820 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_protocol_features.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_protocol_features.py
@@ -22,3 +22,95 @@ class OptionsHolder(object):
         assert protocol_features.rate_limit_error == 123
         assert protocol_features.shard_id == 0
         assert protocol_features.sharding_info is None
+
+    # -----------------------------------------------------------------
+    # Tests for is_scylla detection (independent of shard awareness)
+    # Regression for: ScyllaDB misidentified as Cassandra when sharding
+    # is disabled (allow_shard_aware_drivers: false).
+    # -----------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    def test_is_scylla_detected_via_lwt(self):
+        """ScyllaDB is recognised from SCYLLA_LWT_ADD_METADATA_MARK alone."""
+        pf = ProtocolFeatures.parse_from_supported({
+            'SCYLLA_LWT_ADD_METADATA_MARK': ['LWT_OPTIMIZATION_META_BIT_MASK=8'],
+        })
+        assert pf.is_scylla is True
+        assert pf.shard_id == 0
+        assert pf.sharding_info is None  # no shard-aware connections expected
+
+    def test_is_scylla_detected_via_rate_limit(self):
+        """ScyllaDB is recognised from SCYLLA_RATE_LIMIT_ERROR alone."""
+        pf = ProtocolFeatures.parse_from_supported({
+            'SCYLLA_RATE_LIMIT_ERROR': ['ERROR_CODE=42'],
+        })
+        assert pf.is_scylla is True
+        assert pf.shard_id == 0
+        assert pf.sharding_info is None
+
+    def test_is_scylla_detected_via_tablets(self):
+        """ScyllaDB is recognised from TABLETS_ROUTING_V1 alone."""
+        pf = ProtocolFeatures.parse_from_supported({
+            'TABLETS_ROUTING_V1': [''],
+        })
+        assert pf.is_scylla is True
+        assert pf.shard_id == 0
+        assert pf.sharding_info is None
+
+    def test_is_scylla_detected_via_sharding(self):
+        """ScyllaDB with full sharding is recognised and sharding_info is populated.
+
+        Deliberately omits SCYLLA_LWT_ADD_METADATA_MARK so this test isolates
+        is_scylla detection via sharding_info, not the LWT extension key.
+        """
+        pf = ProtocolFeatures.parse_from_supported({
+            'SCYLLA_SHARD': ['3'],
+            'SCYLLA_NR_SHARDS': ['12'],
+            'SCYLLA_PARTITIONER': ['org.apache.cassandra.dht.Murmur3Partitioner'],
+            'SCYLLA_SHARDING_ALGORITHM': ['biased-token-round-robin'],
+            'SCYLLA_SHARDING_IGNORE_MSB': ['12'],
+        })
+        assert pf.is_scylla is True
+        assert pf.shard_id == 3
+        assert pf.sharding_info is not None
+        assert pf.sharding_info.shards_count == 12
+
+    def test_cassandra_is_not_scylla(self):
+        """Pure Cassandra SUPPORTED response must not set is_scylla."""
+        pf = ProtocolFeatures.parse_from_supported({
+            'CQL_VERSION': ['3.0.0'],
+            'COMPRESSION': ['lz4', 'snappy'],
+        })
+        assert pf.is_scylla is False
+        assert pf.sharding_info is None
+
+    def test_scylla_without_sharding_no_crash(self):
+        """
+        Regression test for F1: SCYLLA_PARTITIONER present but SCYLLA_SHARD /
+        SCYLLA_NR_SHARDS absent must not raise TypeError. ScyllaDB gates all
+        sharding fields together server-side, so this is not expected in
+        practice, but if it happens the driver must not fabricate a partial
+        ShardingInfo -- it should just disable shard-aware routing while
+        still recognising the server as ScyllaDB via the LWT extension key.
+        """
+        pf = ProtocolFeatures.parse_from_supported({
+            'SCYLLA_PARTITIONER': ['org.apache.cassandra.dht.Murmur3Partitioner'],
+            'SCYLLA_LWT_ADD_METADATA_MARK': ['LWT_OPTIMIZATION_META_BIT_MASK=8'],
+        })
+        assert pf.is_scylla is True
+        # Incomplete sharding fields -- no ShardingInfo is fabricated.
+        assert pf.shard_id == 0
+        assert pf.sharding_info is None
+
+    def test_scylla_sharding_algorithm_only_no_crash(self):
+        """
+        Regression: SCYLLA_SHARDING_ALGORITHM present without SCYLLA_SHARD /
+        SCYLLA_NR_SHARDS must not raise TypeError, and must not fabricate a
+        partial ShardingInfo.
+        """
+        pf = ProtocolFeatures.parse_from_supported({
+            'SCYLLA_SHARDING_ALGORITHM': ['biased-token-round-robin'],
+            'SCYLLA_RATE_LIMIT_ERROR': ['ERROR_CODE=42'],
+        })
+        assert pf.is_scylla is True
+        assert pf.shard_id == 0
+        assert pf.sharding_info is None