diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_manager.cc b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_manager.cc
index bbf6fa9f8a4..cb698e559b8 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_manager.cc
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_manager.cc
@@ -516,6 +516,8 @@ void InstanceManager::ScheduleNextTask(InstanceTaskQueue *task_queue) {
 
             if (delay >= (netns_timeout_ * 2)) {
                task->Terminate();
+               if (task->IsSetup())
+                   return;
             } else {
                task->Stop();
                return;
diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.cc b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.cc
index 36a00c6cf6d..ab7833b721a 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.cc
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.cc
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ InstanceTask::InstanceTask()
 
 InstanceTaskExecvp::InstanceTaskExecvp(const std::string &cmd,
                             int cmd_type, EventManager *evm) :
-        cmd_(cmd), errors_(*(evm->io_service())),
+        cmd_(cmd), errors_(*(evm->io_service())), setup_done_(false),
         pid_(0), cmd_type_(cmd_type) {
 }
 
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@ void InstanceTaskExecvp::Terminate() {
     kill(pid_, SIGKILL);
 }
 
+bool InstanceTaskExecvp::IsSetup() {
+    return setup_done_;
+}
 
 // If there is an error before the fork, task is set to "not running"
 // and "false" is returned to caller so that caller can take appropriate
@@ -117,6 +120,7 @@ bool InstanceTaskExecvp::Run() {
         //the task again
         return false;
     }
+    setup_done_ = true;
 
     bzero(rx_buff_, sizeof(rx_buff_));
     boost::asio::async_read(errors_, boost::asio::buffer(rx_buff_, kBufLen),
diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.h b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.h
index 268794b90f3..d185ad01ad9 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.h
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/instance_task.h
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class InstanceTask {
     virtual bool Run() = 0;
     virtual void Stop() = 0;
     virtual void Terminate() = 0;
+    virtual bool IsSetup() = 0;
 
     // TODO reimplement instance_manager.cc to remove these two?
     virtual pid_t pid() const = 0;
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ class InstanceTaskExecvp : public InstanceTask {
     bool Run();
     void Stop();
     void Terminate();
+    bool IsSetup();
 
     pid_t pid() const {
         return pid_;
@@ -95,6 +97,7 @@ class InstanceTaskExecvp : public InstanceTask {
     void ReadErrors(const boost::system::error_code &ec, size_t read_bytes);
     const std::string cmd_;
     boost::asio::posix::stream_descriptor errors_;
+    bool setup_done_; // indicates whether errors_ has a valid descriptor or not
     std::stringstream errors_data_;
     char rx_buff_[kBufLen];
 
diff --git a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/libvirt_instance_adapter.h b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/libvirt_instance_adapter.h
index 9f36fd58618..a02bcea9169 100644
--- a/src/vnsw/agent/oper/libvirt_instance_adapter.h
+++ b/src/vnsw/agent/oper/libvirt_instance_adapter.h
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ class LibvirtInstanceAdapter : public InstanceManagerAdapter {
         bool Run();
         void Stop() {}
         void Terminate() {}
+        bool IsSetup() { return true; }
 
         const std::string &cmd() const {
             static const std::string cmdstr =
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ class LibvirtInstanceAdapter : public InstanceManagerAdapter {
         bool Run();
         void Stop() {}
         void Terminate() {}
+        bool IsSetup() { return true; }
 
         const std::string &cmd() const {
             static const std::string cmdstr =