diff --git a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2.scala b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2.scala
index afd6d45ed444..5c94dec6feb3 100644
--- a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2.scala
+++ b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2.scala
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ import org.apache.hive.service.cli.thrift.{ThriftBinaryCLIService, ThriftHttpCLI
 import org.apache.hive.service.server.HiveServer2
 
 import org.apache.spark.SparkContext
-import org.apache.spark.annotation.DeveloperApi
+import org.apache.spark.annotation.{DeveloperApi, Since}
 import org.apache.spark.internal.Logging
 import org.apache.spark.internal.config.UI.UI_ENABLED
 import org.apache.spark.sql.SQLContext
@@ -56,8 +56,9 @@ object HiveThriftServer2 extends Logging {
    *                    the call logs the error and exits the JVM with exit code -1. When false, the
    *                    call throws an exception instead.
    */
+  @Since("3.5.2")
   @DeveloperApi
-  def startWithContext(sqlContext: SQLContext, exitOnError: Boolean = true): HiveThriftServer2 = {
+  def startWithContext(sqlContext: SQLContext, exitOnError: Boolean): HiveThriftServer2 = {
     systemExitOnError.set(exitOnError)
 
     val executionHive = HiveUtils.newClientForExecution(
@@ -75,6 +76,18 @@ object HiveThriftServer2 extends Logging {
     server
   }
 
+  /**
+   * :: DeveloperApi ::
+   * Starts a new thrift server with the given context.
+   *
+   * @param sqlContext SQLContext to use for the server
+   */
+  @Since("2.0.0")
+  @DeveloperApi
+  def startWithContext(sqlContext: SQLContext): HiveThriftServer2 = {
+    startWithContext(sqlContext, exitOnError = true)
+  }
+
   private def createListenerAndUI(server: HiveThriftServer2, sc: SparkContext): Unit = {
     val kvStore = sc.statusStore.store.asInstanceOf[ElementTrackingStore]
     eventManager = new HiveThriftServer2EventManager(sc)