diff --git a/packages/debugger-shell/src/node/index.flow.js b/packages/debugger-shell/src/node/index.flow.js
index a3918962f918..1a8e4d2b2aef 100644
--- a/packages/debugger-shell/src/node/index.flow.js
+++ b/packages/debugger-shell/src/node/index.flow.js
@@ -8,10 +8,7 @@
  * @format
  */
 
-import {
-  prepareDebuggerShellFromDotSlashFile,
-  spawnAndGetStderr,
-} from './private/LaunchUtils';
+import {prepareDebuggerShellFromDotSlashFile} from './private/LaunchUtils';
 
 const {spawn} = require('cross-spawn');
 const debug = require('debug')('Metro:DebuggerShell');
@@ -174,20 +171,6 @@ async function unstable_prepareDebuggerShell({
         throw new Error(`Unknown flavor: ${flavor}`);
     }
 
-    const [binaryPath, baseArgs] = getShellBinaryAndArgs(
-      flavor,
-      prebuiltBinaryPath,
-    );
-    const {code, stderr} = await spawnAndGetStderr(binaryPath, [
-      ...baseArgs,
-      '--version',
-    ]);
-    if (code !== 0) {
-      return {
-        code: 'unexpected_error',
-        verboseInfo: stderr,
-      };
-    }
     return {code: 'success'};
   } catch (e) {
     return {
diff --git a/packages/debugger-shell/src/node/private/LaunchUtils.js b/packages/debugger-shell/src/node/private/LaunchUtils.js
index 5972f2841b6d..2f78239f2312 100644
--- a/packages/debugger-shell/src/node/private/LaunchUtils.js
+++ b/packages/debugger-shell/src/node/private/LaunchUtils.js
@@ -95,4 +95,4 @@ async function prepareDebuggerShellFromDotSlashFile(
   };
 }
 
-export {spawnAndGetStderr, prepareDebuggerShellFromDotSlashFile};
+export {prepareDebuggerShellFromDotSlashFile};