diff --git a/build.cake b/build.cake
index 83a52ff6b3..ba25a667fe 100644
--- a/build.cake
+++ b/build.cake
@@ -977,6 +977,8 @@ string PublishBuild(string project, BuildEnvironment env, BuildPlan plan, string
         {
             Framework = framework,
             Runtime = rid, // TODO: With everything today do we need to publish this with a rid?  This appears to be legacy bit when we used to push for all supported dotnet core rids.
+            PublishReadyToRun = true, // Improve startup performance by applying some AOT compilation
+            SelfContained = false, // Since we are specifying a runtime identifier this defaults to true. We don't need to ship a runtime for net6 because we require the .NET SDK to be installed.
             Configuration = configuration,
             OutputDirectory = outputFolder,
             MSBuildSettings = new DotNetCoreMSBuildSettings()
diff --git a/src/OmniSharp.Host/HostHelpers.cs b/src/OmniSharp.Host/HostHelpers.cs
index 0b05459bab..7a343d8a33 100644
--- a/src/OmniSharp.Host/HostHelpers.cs
+++ b/src/OmniSharp.Host/HostHelpers.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using System;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
+using OmniSharp.MSBuild.Discovery;
 using OmniSharp.Roslyn;
 using OmniSharp.Utilities;
 
@@ -28,6 +29,11 @@ public static int Start(Func<int> action)
 
                 return action();
             }
+            catch (MSBuildNotFoundException mnfe)
+            {
+                Console.Error.WriteLine(mnfe.Message);
+                return 0xbad;
+            }
             catch (Exception e)
             {
                 Console.Error.WriteLine(e.ToString());
diff --git a/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/Extensions.cs b/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/Extensions.cs
index 731000fee1..55f28ea19d 100644
--- a/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/Extensions.cs
+++ b/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/Extensions.cs
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ Try updating your MSBuild to version {minimumMSBuildVersion} or higher to enable
             }
             else
             {
-                logger.LogError("Could not locate MSBuild instance to register with OmniSharp");
+                throw new MSBuildNotFoundException("Could not locate MSBuild instance to register with OmniSharp.");
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/MSBuildNotFoundException.cs b/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/MSBuildNotFoundException.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f089e8cbee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/MSBuildNotFoundException.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+using System;
+
+namespace OmniSharp.MSBuild.Discovery
+{
+    internal class MSBuildNotFoundException : Exception
+    {
+        public MSBuildNotFoundException()
+        {
+        }
+
+        public MSBuildNotFoundException(string message) : base(message)
+        {
+        }
+
+        public MSBuildNotFoundException(string message, Exception innerException) : base(message, innerException)
+        {
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/Providers/MicrosoftBuildLocatorInstanceProvider.cs b/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/Providers/MicrosoftBuildLocatorInstanceProvider.cs
index 364d751dbd..91ffa13dcb 100644
--- a/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/Providers/MicrosoftBuildLocatorInstanceProvider.cs
+++ b/src/OmniSharp.Host/MSBuild/Discovery/Providers/MicrosoftBuildLocatorInstanceProvider.cs
@@ -22,9 +22,17 @@ public override ImmutableArray<MSBuildInstance> GetInstances()
         {
 
 #if NETCOREAPP
+            const string DotNetSdkVersion = "6.0.100";
+
             // Restrict instances to NET 6 SDK
             var instances = MicrosoftBuildLocator.QueryVisualStudioInstances()
-                .Where(instance => instance.Version.Major == 6);
+                .Where(instance => instance.Version.ToString() == DotNetSdkVersion)
+                .ToImmutableArray();
+
+            if (instances.Length == 0)
+            {
+                Logger.LogError($"OmniSharp requires .NET SDK version '{DotNetSdkVersion}' be installed. Please visit https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/6.0 to download the .NET SDK.");
+            }
 #else
             if (!PlatformHelper.IsWindows)
             {