diff --git a/src/vs/server/extensionHostConnection.ts b/src/vs/server/extensionHostConnection.ts
index 537fb66b7fb..196d2bf6b8f 100644
--- a/src/vs/server/extensionHostConnection.ts
+++ b/src/vs/server/extensionHostConnection.ts
@@ -201,8 +201,8 @@ export class ExtensionHostConnection {
 			// Run Extension Host as fork of current process
 			const args = ['--type=extensionHost', `--uriTransformerPath=${uriTransformerPath}`];
 			const useHostProxy = this._environmentService.args['use-host-proxy'];
-			if (useHostProxy !== undefined) {
-				args.push(`--useHostProxy=${useHostProxy}`);
+			if (useHostProxy) {
+				args.push(`--useHostProxy`);
 			}
 			this._extensionHostProcess = cp.fork(FileAccess.asFileUri('bootstrap-fork', require).fsPath, args, opts);
 			const pid = this._extensionHostProcess.pid;
diff --git a/src/vs/server/remoteAgentEnvironmentImpl.ts b/src/vs/server/remoteAgentEnvironmentImpl.ts
index 988722b559c..963ffbe17f4 100644
--- a/src/vs/server/remoteAgentEnvironmentImpl.ts
+++ b/src/vs/server/remoteAgentEnvironmentImpl.ts
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ export class RemoteAgentEnvironmentChannel implements IServerChannel {
 			os: platform.OS,
 			arch: process.arch,
 			marks: performance.getMarks(),
-			useHostProxy: (this.environmentService.args['use-host-proxy'] !== undefined)
+			useHostProxy: !!this.environmentService.args['use-host-proxy']
 		};
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/vs/server/serverEnvironmentService.ts b/src/vs/server/serverEnvironmentService.ts
index 52493f44cfc..688c4303823 100644
--- a/src/vs/server/serverEnvironmentService.ts
+++ b/src/vs/server/serverEnvironmentService.ts
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ export const serverOptions: OptionDescriptions<ServerParsedArgs> = {
 	'enable-remote-auto-shutdown': { type: 'boolean' },
 	'remote-auto-shutdown-without-delay': { type: 'boolean' },
 
-	'use-host-proxy': { type: 'string' },
+	'use-host-proxy': { type: 'boolean' },
 	'without-browser-env-var': { type: 'boolean' },
 
 	/* ----- server cli ----- */
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ export interface ServerParsedArgs {
 	'enable-remote-auto-shutdown'?: boolean;
 	'remote-auto-shutdown-without-delay'?: boolean;
 
-	'use-host-proxy'?: string;
+	'use-host-proxy'?: boolean;
 	'without-browser-env-var'?: boolean;
 
 	/* ----- server cli ----- */
diff --git a/src/vs/workbench/services/extensions/node/extensionHostProcessSetup.ts b/src/vs/workbench/services/extensions/node/extensionHostProcessSetup.ts
index b27db09a4bb..d1d0f0d5463 100644
--- a/src/vs/workbench/services/extensions/node/extensionHostProcessSetup.ts
+++ b/src/vs/workbench/services/extensions/node/extensionHostProcessSetup.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ import 'vs/workbench/api/node/extHost.node.services';
 interface ParsedExtHostArgs {
 	uriTransformerPath?: string;
 	skipWorkspaceStorageLock?: boolean;
-	useHostProxy?: string;
+	useHostProxy?: boolean;
 }
 
 // workaround for https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/85490
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ interface ParsedExtHostArgs {
 
 const args = minimist(process.argv.slice(2), {
 	string: [
-		'uriTransformerPath',
-		'useHostProxy'
+		'uriTransformerPath'
 	],
 	boolean: [
-		'skipWorkspaceStorageLock'
+		'skipWorkspaceStorageLock',
+		'useHostProxy'
 	]
 }) as ParsedExtHostArgs;
 
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ export async function startExtensionHostProcess(): Promise<void> {
 	const { initData } = renderer;
 	// setup things
 	patchProcess(!!initData.environment.extensionTestsLocationURI); // to support other test frameworks like Jasmin that use process.exit (https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/37708)
-	initData.environment.useHostProxy = args.useHostProxy !== undefined ? args.useHostProxy !== 'false' : undefined;
+	initData.environment.useHostProxy = !!args.useHostProxy;
 	initData.environment.skipWorkspaceStorageLock = boolean(args.skipWorkspaceStorageLock, false);
 
 	// host abstraction