diff --git a/src/vs/code/node/cli.ts b/src/vs/code/node/cli.ts
index 94b66896ed0..fc424f37727 100644
--- a/src/vs/code/node/cli.ts
+++ b/src/vs/code/node/cli.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import { resolveTerminalEncoding } from 'vs/base/node/encoding';
 import * as iconv from 'iconv-lite';
 import { writeFileAndFlushSync } from 'vs/base/node/extfs';
 import { isWindows } from 'vs/base/common/platform';
+import { ProfilingSession } from 'v8-inspect-profiler';
 
 function shouldSpawnCliProcess(argv: ParsedArgs): boolean {
 	return !!argv['install-source']
@@ -271,37 +272,54 @@ export async function main(argv: string[]): Promise<any> {
 			fs.writeFileSync(filenamePrefix, argv.slice(-6).join('|'));
 
 			processCallbacks.push(async _child => {
+
+				class Profiler {
+					static async start(name: string, filenamePrefix: string, opts: { port: number, tries?: number }) {
+						const profiler = await import('v8-inspect-profiler');
+
+						let session: ProfilingSession;
+						try {
+							session = await profiler.startProfiling(opts);
+						} catch (err) {
+							console.error(`FAILED to start profiling for '${name}' on port '${opts.port}'`);
+						}
+
+						return {
+							async stop() {
+								if (!session) {
+									return;
+								}
+								let suffix = '';
+								let profile = await session.stop();
+								if (!process.env['VSCODE_DEV']) {
+									// when running from a not-development-build we remove
+									// absolute filenames because we don't want to reveal anything
+									// about users. We also append the `.txt` suffix to make it
+									// easier to attach these files to GH issues
+									profile = profiler.rewriteAbsolutePaths(profile, 'piiRemoved');
+									suffix = '.txt';
+								}
+
+								await profiler.writeProfile(profile, `${filenamePrefix}-${name}.cpuprofile${suffix}`);
+							}
+						};
+					}
+				}
+
 				try {
 					// load and start profiler
-					const profiler = await import('v8-inspect-profiler');
-					const main = await profiler.startProfiling({ port: portMain });
-					const renderer = await profiler.startProfiling({ port: portRenderer, tries: 200 });
-					const extHost = await profiler.startProfiling({ port: portExthost, tries: 300 });
+					const main = await Profiler.start('main', filenamePrefix, { port: portMain });
+					const renderer = await Profiler.start('renderer', filenamePrefix, { port: portRenderer, tries: 200 });
+					const extHost = await Profiler.start('extHost', filenamePrefix, { port: portExthost, tries: 300 });
 
 					// wait for the renderer to delete the
 					// marker file
 					await whenDeleted(filenamePrefix);
 
-					let profileMain = await main.stop();
-					let profileRenderer = await renderer.stop();
-					let profileExtHost = await extHost.stop();
-					let suffix = '';
-
-					if (!process.env['VSCODE_DEV']) {
-						// when running from a not-development-build we remove
-						// absolute filenames because we don't want to reveal anything
-						// about users. We also append the `.txt` suffix to make it
-						// easier to attach these files to GH issues
-						profileMain = profiler.rewriteAbsolutePaths(profileMain, 'piiRemoved');
-						profileRenderer = profiler.rewriteAbsolutePaths(profileRenderer, 'piiRemoved');
-						profileExtHost = profiler.rewriteAbsolutePaths(profileExtHost, 'piiRemoved');
-						suffix = '.txt';
-					}
-
-					// finally stop profiling and save profiles to disk
-					await profiler.writeProfile(profileMain, `${filenamePrefix}-main.cpuprofile${suffix}`);
-					await profiler.writeProfile(profileRenderer, `${filenamePrefix}-renderer.cpuprofile${suffix}`);
-					await profiler.writeProfile(profileExtHost, `${filenamePrefix}-exthost.cpuprofile${suffix}`);
+					// stop profiling
+					await main.stop();
+					await renderer.stop();
+					await extHost.stop();
 
 					// re-create the marker file to signal that profiling is done
 					fs.writeFileSync(filenamePrefix, '');