diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/SpringBootApp.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/SpringBootApp.java
index 05de1ffce..adcc0dbf7 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/SpringBootApp.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/SpringBootApp.java
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import com.google.common.base.Supplier;
 import com.google.common.base.Suppliers;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
+import com.sun.tools.attach.AttachNotSupportedException;
 import com.sun.tools.attach.VirtualMachine;
 import com.sun.tools.attach.VirtualMachineDescriptor;
 
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ public class SpringBootApp {
 		return getAllRunningJavaApps().stream().filter(SpringBootApp::isSpringBootApp).collect(CollectorUtil.toImmutableList());
 	}
 
-	public SpringBootApp(VirtualMachineDescriptor vmd) throws Exception {
+	public SpringBootApp(VirtualMachineDescriptor vmd) throws AttachNotSupportedException, IOException {
 		this.vmd = vmd;
 		this.vm = VirtualMachine.attach(vmd);
 		Log.info("SpringBootApp created: "+this);
@@ -113,7 +114,9 @@ public class SpringBootApp {
 							isSpringBootAppSysprops()
 					);
 			} catch (Exception e) {
-				Log.log(e);
+				//Couldn't determine if the VM is a spring boot app. Could be it already died. Or could be its not accessible (yet).
+				// We will ignore the exception, pretend its not a boot app (most likely isn't) but DO NOT CACHE this result
+				// so it will be retried again on the next polling loop.
 				return false;
 			}
 		}
@@ -133,14 +136,9 @@ public class SpringBootApp {
 	}
 
 
-	public boolean containsSystemProperty(Object key) {
-		try {
-			Properties props = this.vm.getSystemProperties();
-			return props.containsKey(key);
-		}
-		catch (Exception e) {
-			return false;
-		}
+	public boolean containsSystemProperty(Object key) throws IOException {
+		Properties props = this.vm.getSystemProperties();
+		return props.containsKey(key);
 	}
 
 	public String getPort() throws Exception {
diff --git a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/SpringBootAppCache.java b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/SpringBootAppCache.java
index 618d5d712..b5506bce1 100644
--- a/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/SpringBootAppCache.java
+++ b/headless-services/commons/commons-boot-app-cli/src/main/java/org/springframework/ide/vscode/commons/boot/app/cli/SpringBootAppCache.java
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import org.springframework.ide.vscode.commons.util.Log;
-
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import com.sun.tools.attach.VirtualMachine;
 import com.sun.tools.attach.VirtualMachineDescriptor;
@@ -37,25 +35,27 @@ public class SpringBootAppCache {
 
 	private void refresh() {
 		List<VirtualMachineDescriptor> currentVms = VirtualMachine.list();
-		HashSet<VirtualMachineDescriptor> oldVms = new HashSet<>(apps.keySet());
-		ImmutableMap.Builder<VirtualMachineDescriptor, SpringBootApp> newApps = ImmutableMap.builder();
+		ImmutableMap.Builder<VirtualMachineDescriptor, SpringBootApp> newAppsBuilder = ImmutableMap.builder();
 		for (VirtualMachineDescriptor vm : currentVms) {
-			oldVms.remove(vm);
 			SpringBootApp existingApp = apps.get(vm);
 			if (existingApp!=null) {
-				newApps.put(vm, existingApp);
+				newAppsBuilder.put(vm, existingApp);
 			} else {
 				try {
-					newApps.put(vm, new SpringBootApp(vm));
+					newAppsBuilder.put(vm, new SpringBootApp(vm));
 				} catch (Exception e) {
-					Log.log(e);
+					//Ignore problems attaching to a VM. We will try again on next polling loop, if vm still exists.
+					//The most likely cause is that the VM already died since we obtained a reference to it.
 				}
 			}
 		}
+		HashSet<VirtualMachineDescriptor> oldVms = new HashSet<>(apps.keySet());
+		ImmutableMap<VirtualMachineDescriptor, SpringBootApp> newApps = newAppsBuilder.build();
+		oldVms.removeAll(newApps.keySet());
 		for (VirtualMachineDescriptor oldVm : oldVms) {
 			apps.get(oldVm).dispose();
 		}
-		apps = newApps.build();
+		apps = newApps;
 		nextRefreshAfter = System.currentTimeMillis() + EXPIRE_AFTER.toMillis();
 	}
 }