diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/OpenSearch.java b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/OpenSearch.java
index 7b011b5828428..8e5f78642dd07 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/OpenSearch.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/OpenSearch.java
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ public static void main(final String[] args) throws Exception {
         LogConfigurator.registerErrorListener();
         final OpenSearch opensearch = new OpenSearch();
         int status = main(args, opensearch, Terminal.DEFAULT);
+
         if (status != ExitCodes.OK) {
             final String basePath = System.getProperty("opensearch.logs.base_path");
             // It's possible to fail before logging has been configured, in which case there's no point
@@ -122,7 +123,14 @@ private static void overrideDnsCachePolicyProperties() {
     }
 
     static int main(final String[] args, final OpenSearch opensearch, final Terminal terminal) throws Exception {
-        return opensearch.main(args, terminal);
+        try {
+            return opensearch.main(args, terminal);
+        } catch (StartupException e) {
+            // StartupException has custom printStackTrace formatting (truncates guice frames, etc.).
+            // Catch it here so the process exits rather than hanging, while preserving that output.
+            e.printStackTrace(terminal.getErrorWriter());
+            return ExitCodes.CODE_ERROR;
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/OpenSearchCliTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/OpenSearchCliTests.java
index f4d8e055f0795..481d2c14339bb 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/OpenSearchCliTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/opensearch/bootstrap/OpenSearchCliTests.java
@@ -226,4 +226,18 @@ public void testUnknownOption() throws Exception {
         );
     }
 
+    public void testStartupExceptionExitsWithCodeError() throws Exception {
+        // StartupException is caught in the 3-arg main(), which prints it via its custom formatter
+        // and returns CODE_ERROR so that the 1-arg main() calls exit(CODE_ERROR).
+        final RuntimeException cause = new RuntimeException("dummy startup failure");
+        runTest(
+            ExitCodes.CODE_ERROR,
+            true,
+            (output, error) -> assertThat(error, containsString(cause.getMessage())),
+            (foreground, pidFile, quiet, env) -> {
+                throw new StartupException(cause);
+            }
+        );
+    }
+
 }