diff --git a/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/gdb/internal/ui/launching/ProcessPrompter.java b/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/gdb/internal/ui/launching/ProcessPrompter.java
index b50e0ce4a68..b3fc90a6b7b 100644
--- a/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/gdb/internal/ui/launching/ProcessPrompter.java
+++ b/dsf-gdb/org.eclipse.cdt.dsf.gdb.ui/src/org/eclipse/cdt/dsf/gdb/internal/ui/launching/ProcessPrompter.java
@@ -107,8 +107,15 @@ public class ProcessPrompter implements IStatusHandler {
 					
 					name = name.split("\\s", 2)[0]; //$NON-NLS-1$
 					
+					// on windows host, paths of style "sendmail:", "udisk-daemon:" 
+					// would be treated as device id with no path segments 
 					IPath path = new Path(name);
-					StringBuffer text = new StringBuffer(path.lastSegment());
+					StringBuilder text = new StringBuilder();
+					if (path.lastSegment() == null ) {
+						text.append(name);
+					} else {
+						text.append(path.lastSegment());
+					}
 					
 					String owner = info.getOwner();
 					if (owner != null) {