diff --git a/desktop/app/src/server/devices/android/adbClient.tsx b/desktop/app/src/server/devices/android/adbClient.tsx
index e5d96ae02..833b2a92a 100644
--- a/desktop/app/src/server/devices/android/adbClient.tsx
+++ b/desktop/app/src/server/devices/android/adbClient.tsx
@@ -34,42 +34,10 @@ export function getAdbClient(config: Config): Promise<Client> {
 async function createClient(config: Config): Promise<Client> {
   const androidHome = config.androidHome;
   const adbPath = path.resolve(androidHome, 'platform-tools/adb');
-  try {
-    return reportPlatformFailures<Client>(
-      execFile(adbPath, ['start-server']).then(() =>
-        adbkit.createClient(adbConfig()),
-      ),
-      'createADBClient.shell',
-    );
-  } catch (err) {
-    console.log(
-      'Failed to create adb client using shell adb command. Trying with adbkit.\n' +
-        err.toString(),
-    );
-
-    /* In the event that starting adb with the above method fails, fallback
-         to using adbkit, though its known to be unreliable. */
-    const unsafeClient: Client = adbkit.createClient(adbConfig());
-    return await reportPlatformFailures<Client>(
-      promiseRetry<Client>(
-        async (retry, attempt): Promise<Client> => {
-          try {
-            await unsafeClient.listDevices();
-            return unsafeClient;
-          } catch (e) {
-            console.warn(`Failed to start adb client. Retrying. ${e.message}`);
-            if (attempt <= MAX_RETRIES) {
-              retry(e);
-            }
-            throw e;
-          }
-        },
-        {
-          minTimeout: 200,
-          retries: MAX_RETRIES,
-        },
-      ),
-      'createADBClient.adbkit',
-    );
-  }
+  return reportPlatformFailures<Client>(
+    execFile(adbPath, ['start-server']).then(() =>
+      adbkit.createClient(adbConfig()),
+    ),
+    'createADBClient.shell',
+  );
 }
diff --git a/desktop/app/src/server/utils/CertificateProvider.tsx b/desktop/app/src/server/utils/CertificateProvider.tsx
index ea0a9fc3e..cfe821b8b 100644
--- a/desktop/app/src/server/utils/CertificateProvider.tsx
+++ b/desktop/app/src/server/utils/CertificateProvider.tsx
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import archiver from 'archiver';
 import {timeout} from 'flipper-plugin';
 import {v4 as uuid} from 'uuid';
 import {isTest} from '../../utils/isProduction';
+import {message} from 'antd';
 
 export type CertificateExchangeMedium = 'FS_ACCESS' | 'WWW' | 'NONE';
 
@@ -100,7 +101,18 @@ export default class CertificateProvider {
     config: CertificateProviderConfig,
   ) {
     this.logger = logger;
-    this.adb = getAdbClient(config);
+    // TODO: refactor this code to create promise lazily
+    this.adb = getAdbClient(config).catch((e) => {
+      // make sure initialization failure is already logged
+      message.error({
+        duration: null,
+        content:
+          'Failed to initialise ADB. Please check your Android settings, ANDROID_HOME and run the Setup Doctor. ' +
+          e,
+      });
+      console.error('Failed to initialise ADB', e);
+      this.adb = Promise.reject(e);
+    }) as Promise<ADBClient>;
     if (isTest()) {
       this.certificateSetup = Promise.reject(
         new Error('Server certificates not available in test'),