diff --git a/test/failure_handler/src/share/classes/jdk/test/failurehandler/action/ActionSet.java b/test/failure_handler/src/share/classes/jdk/test/failurehandler/action/ActionSet.java
index d67611697bf..46f1c5bc6f1 100644
--- a/test/failure_handler/src/share/classes/jdk/test/failurehandler/action/ActionSet.java
+++ b/test/failure_handler/src/share/classes/jdk/test/failurehandler/action/ActionSet.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2015, 2021, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2015, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -104,8 +104,11 @@ public class ActionSet implements ProcessInfoGatherer, EnvironmentInfoGatherer,
 
     private String[] getTools(PrintWriter writer, Properties p, String key) {
         String value = p.getProperty(key);
-        if (value == null || value.isEmpty()) {
-            writer.printf("ERROR: '%s' property is empty%n", key);
+        if (value == null) {
+            writer.printf("ERROR: '%s' property is not set%n", key);
+            return new String[]{};
+        }
+        if (value.isEmpty()) {
             return new String[]{};
         }
         return value.split(" ");
diff --git a/test/failure_handler/src/share/conf/windows.properties b/test/failure_handler/src/share/conf/windows.properties
index e22c1a523d8..6d11553ebbf 100644
--- a/test/failure_handler/src/share/conf/windows.properties
+++ b/test/failure_handler/src/share/conf/windows.properties
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2015, 2021, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (c) 2015, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 # DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
 #
 # This code is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ native.stack.params.repeat=6
 native.core.app=cdb
 native.core.args=-c ".dump /mA core.%p;qd" -p %p
 native.core.params.timeout=600000
+
+cores=
 ################################################################################
 # environment info to gather
 ################################################################################