diff --git a/org.eclipse.jdt.core.tests.compiler/src/org/eclipse/jdt/core/tests/runtime/LocalVMLauncher.java b/org.eclipse.jdt.core.tests.compiler/src/org/eclipse/jdt/core/tests/runtime/LocalVMLauncher.java
index 6452c16..133f522 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jdt.core.tests.compiler/src/org/eclipse/jdt/core/tests/runtime/LocalVMLauncher.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jdt.core.tests.compiler/src/org/eclipse/jdt/core/tests/runtime/LocalVMLauncher.java
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@
 		// Use Runtime.exec(String[]) with tokens because Runtime.exec(String) with commandLineString
 		// does not properly handle spaces in arguments on Unix/Linux platforms.
 		String[] commandLine = getCommandLine();
+System.out.println("commandline: "+commandLine);
 		vmProcess= Runtime.getRuntime().exec(commandLine, env);
 	} catch (IOException e) {
 		throw new TargetException("Error launching VM at " + this.vmPath);
@@ -405,7 +406,11 @@
 	LocalVirtualMachine vm;
 	Process p = execCommandLine();
 System.out.print("LVM.launch: "+p);
-if (p.isAlive()) System.out.println("alive"); else System.out.println("exited "+p.exitValue());
+if (p == null) {
+	System.out.println();
+} else {
+	if (p.isAlive()) System.out.println("alive"); else System.out.println("exited "+p.exitValue());
+}
 	vm = new LocalVirtualMachine(p, this.debugPort, this.evalTargetPath);
 
 	// TBD: Start reading VM stdout and stderr right away otherwise this may prevent the connection