diff --git a/src/vs/code/electron-main/app.ts b/src/vs/code/electron-main/app.ts
index c284c8aed67..0d8614131be 100644
--- a/src/vs/code/electron-main/app.ts
+++ b/src/vs/code/electron-main/app.ts
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ export class CodeApplication extends Disposable {
 			}
 
 			// Resolve shell env
-			return this.resolveShellEnvironment(args, env);
+			return this.resolveShellEnvironment(args, env, false);
 		});
 
 		ipcMain.handle('vscode:writeNlsFile', (event, path: unknown, data: unknown) => {
@@ -990,7 +990,7 @@ export class CodeApplication extends Disposable {
 		// Since this operation can take a long time, we want to warm it up while
 		// the window is opening.
 		// We also show an error to the user in case this fails.
-		this.resolveShellEnvironment(this.environmentMainService.args, process.env);
+		this.resolveShellEnvironment(this.environmentMainService.args, process.env, true);
 
 		// If enable-crash-reporter argv is undefined then this is a fresh start,
 		// based on telemetry.enableCrashreporter settings, generate a UUID which
@@ -1022,11 +1022,16 @@ export class CodeApplication extends Disposable {
 		}
 	}
 
-	private async resolveShellEnvironment(args: NativeParsedArgs, env: IProcessEnvironment): Promise<typeof process.env> {
+	private async resolveShellEnvironment(args: NativeParsedArgs, env: IProcessEnvironment, notifyOnError: boolean): Promise<typeof process.env> {
 		try {
 			return await resolveShellEnv(this.logService, args, env);
 		} catch (error) {
-			this.windowsMainService?.sendToFocused('vscode:showResolveShellEnvError', toErrorMessage(error));
+			const errorMessage = toErrorMessage(error);
+			if (notifyOnError) {
+				this.windowsMainService?.sendToFocused('vscode:showResolveShellEnvError', errorMessage);
+			} else {
+				this.logService.error(errorMessage);
+			}
 		}
 
 		return {};