diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/LocalSpringBootApp.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/LocalSpringBootApp.java
index b45c562cb..f09e56894 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/LocalSpringBootApp.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/LocalSpringBootApp.java
@@ -11,18 +11,25 @@
 package org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.boot.app.cli;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
 import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.AsyncRunner;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.CollectorUtil;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.ExceptionUtil;
 
 import com.sun.tools.attach.AttachNotSupportedException;
 import com.sun.tools.attach.VirtualMachine;
 import com.sun.tools.attach.VirtualMachineDescriptor;
 
+import reactor.core.scheduler.Schedulers;
+
 /**
  * @author Martin Lippert
  */
@@ -30,11 +37,18 @@ public class LocalSpringBootApp extends AbstractSpringBootApp {
 
 	private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LocalSpringBootApp.class);
 
+	private static AsyncRunner async = new AsyncRunner(Schedulers.elastic());
+	private static <T> T withTimeout(Callable<T> doit) throws Exception {
+		return async.invoke(TIMEOUT, doit).get();
+	}
+
 	private VirtualMachine vm;
 	private VirtualMachineDescriptor vmd;
 
 	private static final String LOCAL_CONNECTOR_ADDRESS = "com.sun.management.jmxremote.localConnectorAddress";
 
+	private static final Duration TIMEOUT = Duration.ofMillis(1000);
+
 	private Boolean isSpringBootApp;
 
 	private static LocalSpringBootAppCache cache = new LocalSpringBootAppCache();
@@ -111,7 +125,7 @@ public class LocalSpringBootApp extends AbstractSpringBootApp {
 		return isSpringBootApp;
 	}
 
-	private boolean isSpringBootAppSysprops() throws IOException {
+	private boolean isSpringBootAppSysprops() throws Exception {
 		Properties sysprops = getSystemProperties();
 		return "org.springframework.boot.loader".equals(sysprops.getProperty("java.protocol.handler.pkgs"));
 	}
@@ -121,11 +135,11 @@ public class LocalSpringBootApp extends AbstractSpringBootApp {
 	}
 
 	@Override
-	public Properties getSystemProperties() throws IOException {
-		return this.vm.getSystemProperties();
+	public Properties getSystemProperties() throws Exception {
+		return withTimeout(() -> vm.getSystemProperties());
 	}
 
-	public boolean containsSystemProperty(Object key) throws IOException {
+	public boolean containsSystemProperty(Object key) throws Exception {
 		Properties props = getSystemProperties();
 		return props.containsKey(key);
 	}
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/jdt/ls/ClasspathListenerManager.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/jdt/ls/ClasspathListenerManager.java
index 2575513b9..81ab755e3 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/jdt/ls/ClasspathListenerManager.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/jdt/ls/ClasspathListenerManager.java
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ import org.eclipse.lsp4j.Unregistration;
 import org.eclipse.lsp4j.UnregistrationParams;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
-import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.util.AsyncRunner;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.util.SimpleLanguageServer;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.AsyncRunner;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleLanguageServer.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleLanguageServer.java
index 663ceac03..4375bc31d 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleLanguageServer.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleLanguageServer.java
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
  *******************************************************************************/
 package org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.util;
 
-import static org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.util.AsyncRunner.thenLog;
+import static org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.AsyncRunner.thenLog;
 
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.reconcile.IReconcil
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.reconcile.ProblemSeverity;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.reconcile.ReconcileProblem;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.Assert;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.AsyncRunner;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.BadLocationException;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.CollectionUtil;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.Log;
@@ -143,7 +144,7 @@ public class SimpleLanguageServer implements Sts4LanguageServer, LanguageClientA
 
 	private Map<String, ExecuteCommandHandler> commands = new HashMap<>();
 
-	private AsyncRunner async = new AsyncRunner();
+	private AsyncRunner async = new AsyncRunner(Schedulers.newSingle("SimpleLanguaserver main thread"));
 	private ClasspathListenerManager classpathListenerManager;
 
 	@Override
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleTextDocumentService.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleTextDocumentService.java
index 9be363930..843e7a871 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleTextDocumentService.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleTextDocumentService.java
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ import org.eclipse.lsp4j.services.LanguageClient;
 import org.eclipse.lsp4j.services.TextDocumentService;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.quickfix.Quickfix;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.Assert;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.AsyncRunner;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.BadLocationException;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.CollectorUtil;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.ExceptionUtil;
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleWorkspaceService.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleWorkspaceService.java
index 9548c6295..739a59c9e 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleWorkspaceService.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/SimpleWorkspaceService.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import org.eclipse.lsp4j.services.WorkspaceService;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.Assert;
+import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.AsyncRunner;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.FileObserver;
 import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.Log;
 
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/AsyncRunner.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/AsyncRunner.java
similarity index 82%
rename from headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/AsyncRunner.java
rename to headless-services/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/AsyncRunner.java
index 776ee011a..b4a7ca748 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-language-server/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/languageserver/util/AsyncRunner.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-util/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/util/AsyncRunner.java
@@ -8,13 +8,13 @@
  * Contributors:
  *     Pivotal, Inc. - initial API and implementation
  *******************************************************************************/
-package org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.languageserver.util;
+package org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util;
 
+import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
 import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
 
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
-import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.RunnableWithException;
 
 import reactor.core.publisher.Mono;
 import reactor.core.scheduler.Scheduler;
@@ -22,14 +22,24 @@ import reactor.core.scheduler.Schedulers;
 
 public class AsyncRunner {
 
-	private static Scheduler executor = Schedulers.newSingle("STS4 Thread");
+	private Scheduler executor;
 
 	// Used in test harness to wait for all pending request to finish.
 	// We only need to remember the last request as requests are executed in order, so if
 	// the last request is done, all requests are done
 	private CompletableFuture<?> lastRequest;
 
-	public AsyncRunner() {
+	public AsyncRunner(Scheduler scheduler) {
+		 this.executor = scheduler;
+	}
+
+	public synchronized <T> CompletableFuture<T> invoke(Duration timeout, Callable<T> callable) {
+		CompletableFuture<T> x = Mono.fromCallable(callable)
+				.timeout(timeout)
+				.subscribeOn(executor)
+				.toFuture();
+		lastRequest = x;
+		return x;
 	}
 
 	public synchronized <T> CompletableFuture<T> invoke(Callable<T> callable) {