diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/server/process.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/server/process.py
index 4d3d1a4308..8699765a31 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/server/process.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/server/process.py
@@ -365,7 +365,12 @@ class ServerCommunicator():
             logger.info("No reply from server in 30s")
             if not self.recv.poll(30):
                 raise ProcessTimeout("Timeout while waiting for a reply from the bitbake server (60s)")
-        return self.recv.get()
+        ret, exc = self.recv.get()
+        # Should probably turn all exceptions in exc back into exceptions?
+        # For now, at least handle BBHandledException
+        if exc and "BBHandledException" in exc:
+            raise bb.BBHandledException()
+        return ret, exc
 
     def updateFeatureSet(self, featureset):
         _, error = self.runCommand(["setFeatures", featureset])
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/ui/knotty.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/ui/knotty.py
index a3507afb7c..a91e4fd15c 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/ui/knotty.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/ui/knotty.py
@@ -380,14 +380,27 @@ _evt_list = [ "bb.runqueue.runQueueExitWait", "bb.event.LogExecTTY", "logging.Lo
               "bb.event.BuildBase", "bb.build.TaskStarted", "bb.build.TaskSucceeded", "bb.build.TaskFailedSilent",
               "bb.build.TaskProgress", "bb.event.ProcessStarted", "bb.event.ProcessProgress", "bb.event.ProcessFinished"]
 
+def drain_events_errorhandling(eventHandler):
+    # We don't have logging setup, we do need to show any events we see before exiting
+    event = True
+    logger = bb.msg.logger_create('bitbake', sys.stdout)
+    while event:
+        event = eventHandler.waitEvent(0)
+        if isinstance(event, logging.LogRecord):
+            logger.handle(event)
+
 def main(server, eventHandler, params, tf = TerminalFilter):
 
-    if not params.observe_only:
-        params.updateToServer(server, os.environ.copy())
+    try:
+        if not params.observe_only:
+            params.updateToServer(server, os.environ.copy())
 
-    includelogs, loglines, consolelogfile, logconfigfile = _log_settings_from_server(server, params.observe_only)
+        includelogs, loglines, consolelogfile, logconfigfile = _log_settings_from_server(server, params.observe_only)
 
-    loglevel, _ = bb.msg.constructLogOptions()
+        loglevel, _ = bb.msg.constructLogOptions()
+    except bb.BBHandledException:
+        drain_events_errorhandling(eventHandler)
+        return 1
 
     if params.options.quiet == 0:
         console_loglevel = loglevel