diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 93a0d2144b..8867f08d72 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Set up Gradle
       uses: gradle/actions/setup-gradle@v4
-    
+
     - name: Run unit tests
       env:
         USER: unittest
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Set up Gradle
       uses: gradle/actions/setup-gradle@v4
-    
+
     - name: Run cloud test
       # Only supported in non-fork runs, since secrets are not available in forks. We intentionally
       # are only doing this check on the step instead of the job so we require job passing in CI
@@ -191,10 +191,10 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Set up Gradle
       uses: gradle/actions/setup-gradle@v4
-    
+
     - name: Run copyright and code format checks
       run: ./gradlew --no-daemon spotlessCheck
-  
+
   build_native_images:
     name: Build native test server
     uses: ./.github/workflows/build-native-image.yml
diff --git a/temporal-sdk/src/main/java/io/temporal/worker/WorkerFactory.java b/temporal-sdk/src/main/java/io/temporal/worker/WorkerFactory.java
index b33c2a331e..fb2311209e 100644
--- a/temporal-sdk/src/main/java/io/temporal/worker/WorkerFactory.java
+++ b/temporal-sdk/src/main/java/io/temporal/worker/WorkerFactory.java
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.uber.m3.tally.Scope;
+import io.temporal.api.workflowservice.v1.DescribeNamespaceRequest;
+import io.temporal.api.workflowservice.v1.DescribeNamespaceResponse;
 import io.temporal.client.WorkflowClient;
 import io.temporal.client.WorkflowClientOptions;
 import io.temporal.common.converter.DataConverter;
@@ -196,9 +198,14 @@ public synchronized void start() {
 
     // Workers check and require that Temporal Server is available during start to fail-fast in case
     // of configuration issues.
-    // TODO(https://github.com/temporalio/sdk-java/issues/2060) consider using describeNamespace as
-    // a connection check.
-    workflowClient.getWorkflowServiceStubs().getServerCapabilities();
+    DescribeNamespaceResponse response =
+        workflowClient
+            .getWorkflowServiceStubs()
+            .blockingStub()
+            .describeNamespace(
+                DescribeNamespaceRequest.newBuilder()
+                    .setNamespace(workflowClient.getOptions().getNamespace())
+                    .build());
 
     for (Worker worker : workers.values()) {
       worker.start();
diff --git a/temporal-sdk/src/test/java/io/temporal/workerFactory/WorkerFactoryTests.java b/temporal-sdk/src/test/java/io/temporal/workerFactory/WorkerFactoryTests.java
index e228508376..856ba8dcce 100644
--- a/temporal-sdk/src/test/java/io/temporal/workerFactory/WorkerFactoryTests.java
+++ b/temporal-sdk/src/test/java/io/temporal/workerFactory/WorkerFactoryTests.java
@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
 package io.temporal.workerFactory;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
+import io.grpc.Status;
+import io.grpc.StatusRuntimeException;
 import io.temporal.client.WorkflowClient;
+import io.temporal.client.WorkflowClientOptions;
 import io.temporal.serviceclient.WorkflowServiceStubs;
 import io.temporal.serviceclient.WorkflowServiceStubsOptions;
 import io.temporal.worker.WorkerFactory;
@@ -128,4 +133,24 @@ public void factoryCanBeShutdownMoreThanOnce() {
     factory.shutdown();
     factory.awaitTermination(1, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void startFailsOnNonexistentNamespace() {
+    WorkflowServiceStubs serviceLocal =
+        WorkflowServiceStubs.newServiceStubs(
+            WorkflowServiceStubsOptions.newBuilder().setTarget(serviceAddress).build());
+    WorkflowClient clientLocal =
+        WorkflowClient.newInstance(
+            serviceLocal, WorkflowClientOptions.newBuilder().setNamespace("i_dont_exist").build());
+    WorkerFactory factoryLocal = WorkerFactory.newInstance(clientLocal);
+    factoryLocal.newWorker("task-queue");
+
+    StatusRuntimeException ex = assertThrows(StatusRuntimeException.class, factoryLocal::start);
+    assertEquals(Status.Code.NOT_FOUND, ex.getStatus().getCode());
+
+    factoryLocal.shutdownNow();
+    factoryLocal.awaitTermination(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+    serviceLocal.shutdownNow();
+    serviceLocal.awaitTermination(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/temporal-spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/io/temporal/spring/boot/autoconfigure/WorkerVersioningTest.java b/temporal-spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/io/temporal/spring/boot/autoconfigure/WorkerVersioningTest.java
index a21380b9c1..93d489d7ec 100644
--- a/temporal-spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/io/temporal/spring/boot/autoconfigure/WorkerVersioningTest.java
+++ b/temporal-spring-boot-autoconfigure/src/test/java/io/temporal/spring/boot/autoconfigure/WorkerVersioningTest.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import io.temporal.common.WorkflowExecutionHistory;
 import io.temporal.spring.boot.autoconfigure.workerversioning.TestWorkflow;
 import io.temporal.spring.boot.autoconfigure.workerversioning.TestWorkflow2;
+import io.temporal.worker.WorkerFactory;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.*;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
 import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@
 import org.springframework.test.context.ActiveProfiles;
 
 @SpringBootTest(classes = WorkerVersioningTest.Configuration.class)
-@ActiveProfiles(profiles = "worker-versioning")
+@ActiveProfiles(profiles = {"worker-versioning", "disable-start-workers"})
 @TestInstance(TestInstance.Lifecycle.PER_CLASS)
 public class WorkerVersioningTest {
   @Autowired ConfigurableApplicationContext applicationContext;
@@ -43,6 +44,12 @@ void setUp() {
   @Test
   @Timeout(value = 10)
   public void testAutoDiscovery() {
+    // Manually start the worker because we disable automatic worker start, due to
+    // automatic worker start running prior to the docker check, which causes namespace
+    // errors when running in-mem unit tests
+    WorkerFactory workerFactory = applicationContext.getBean(WorkerFactory.class);
+    workerFactory.start();
+
     workflowClient
         .getWorkflowServiceStubs()
         .blockingStub()