diff --git a/examples/extension/build.gradle b/examples/extension/build.gradle
index b670f991eede..643dd2daeb7b 100644
--- a/examples/extension/build.gradle
+++ b/examples/extension/build.gradle
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ plugins {
   id "com.gradleup.shadow" version "8.3.6"
   id "com.diffplug.spotless" version "7.0.3"
 
-  id "io.opentelemetry.instrumentation.muzzle-generation" version "2.17.0-alpha-SNAPSHOT"
-  id "io.opentelemetry.instrumentation.muzzle-check" version "2.17.0-alpha-SNAPSHOT"
+  id "io.opentelemetry.instrumentation.muzzle-generation" version "2.17.0-alpha"
+  id "io.opentelemetry.instrumentation.muzzle-check" version "2.17.0-alpha"
 }
 
 group 'io.opentelemetry.example'
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ ext {
     opentelemetrySdk           : "1.50.0",
 
     // these lines are managed by .github/scripts/update-version.sh
-    opentelemetryJavaagent     : "2.17.0-SNAPSHOT",
-    opentelemetryJavaagentAlpha: "2.17.0-alpha-SNAPSHOT"
+    opentelemetryJavaagent     : "2.17.0",
+    opentelemetryJavaagentAlpha: "2.17.0-alpha"
   ]
 
   deps = [
diff --git a/examples/extension/src/main/java/com/example/healthcheck/HealthCheck.java b/examples/extension/src/main/java/com/example/healthcheck/HealthCheck.java
index bca5d24a01e6..b986bdff2561 100644
--- a/examples/extension/src/main/java/com/example/healthcheck/HealthCheck.java
+++ b/examples/extension/src/main/java/com/example/healthcheck/HealthCheck.java
@@ -31,9 +31,23 @@ public boolean isHealthy() {
       logHealthCheckResult(isHealthy);
       return isHealthy;
     } catch (IOException e) {
+      String mwTarget = EnvironmentConfig.getMwTarget();
+
+      if (mwTarget == null || mwTarget.trim().isEmpty()) {
+        LOGGER.log(
+            Level.WARNING,
+            "Health check failed due to I/O error. No monitoring agent detected and target URL is not configured. "
+                + "Instrumentation will continue but functionality may be degraded. Please verify network connectivity "
+                + "and monitoring configuration.",
+            e);
+        return false;
+      } else {
+        return true;
+      }
+    } catch (Exception e) {
       LOGGER.log(
-          Level.WARNING,
-          "Error performing health check. Instrumentation will continue, but may not function correctly.",
+          Level.SEVERE,
+          "Unexpected error during health check. Instrumentation status unknown and may be unreliable.",
           e);
       return false;
     }
@@ -68,7 +82,7 @@ private boolean performHealthCheck() throws IOException {
   public void logHealthCheckResult(boolean isHealthy) {
     if (isHealthy) {
       LOGGER.info("Health check passed. Proceeding with instrumentation.");
-    } else {
+    } else if (EnvironmentConfig.getMwTarget() == "") {
       LOGGER.log(
           Level.WARNING,
           "MW Agent Healthcheck is failing ... This could be due to incorrect value of MW_AGENT_SERVICE\n"