diff --git a/lib/cloud/gcp/vm_test.go b/lib/cloud/gcp/vm_test.go
index 77cc248f84ba7..8bfbecd08d994 100644
--- a/lib/cloud/gcp/vm_test.go
+++ b/lib/cloud/gcp/vm_test.go
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@ func TestConvertAPIError(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	for _, tc := range tests {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			require.True(t, trace.IsAccessDenied(convertAPIError(tc.err)))
+			err := convertAPIError(tc.err)
+			require.True(t, trace.IsAccessDenied(err), "unexpected error of type %T: %v", tc.err, err)
 			require.Contains(t, tc.err.Error(), "abcd1234")
 		})
 	}
diff --git a/lib/cloud/imds/gcp/imds.go b/lib/cloud/imds/gcp/imds.go
index 0830ab3938a9c..3d80892e97b07 100644
--- a/lib/cloud/imds/gcp/imds.go
+++ b/lib/cloud/imds/gcp/imds.go
@@ -76,8 +76,22 @@ func NewInstanceMetadataClient(ctx context.Context) (*InstanceMetadataClient, er
 
 // IsAvailable checks if instance metadata is available.
 func (client *InstanceMetadataClient) IsAvailable(ctx context.Context) bool {
-	instanceData, err := client.getMetadata(ctx, "instance")
-	return err == nil && instanceData != ""
+	id, err := client.getNumericID(ctx)
+	return err == nil && id != 0
+}
+
+func (client *InstanceMetadataClient) getNumericID(ctx context.Context) (uint64, error) {
+	idStr, err := client.GetID(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, trace.Wrap(err)
+	}
+	id, err := strconv.ParseUint(idStr, 10, 64)
+	if err != nil {
+		// Shouldn't ever happen on GCP, but at least one other cloud provider (Yandex)
+		// implements this metadata API and doesn't have numeric IDs.
+		return 0, trace.Wrap(err)
+	}
+	return id, nil
 }
 
 // GetTags gets all of the GCP instance's labels (note: these are separate from
@@ -96,11 +110,7 @@ func (client *InstanceMetadataClient) GetTags(ctx context.Context) (map[string]s
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, trace.Wrap(err)
 	}
-	idStr, err := client.GetID(ctx)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, trace.Wrap(err)
-	}
-	id, err := strconv.ParseUint(idStr, 10, 64)
+	id, err := client.getNumericID(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, trace.Wrap(err)
 	}
diff --git a/lib/cloud/imds/gcp/imds_test.go b/lib/cloud/imds/gcp/imds_test.go
index 10ee2c1a2f5f6..c1bcee76db186 100644
--- a/lib/cloud/imds/gcp/imds_test.go
+++ b/lib/cloud/imds/gcp/imds_test.go
@@ -58,16 +58,44 @@ func (m *mockInstanceGetter) GetInstanceTags(ctx context.Context, req *gcp.Insta
 func TestIsInstanceMetadataAvailable(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
-	t.Run("not available", func(t *testing.T) {
-		client := &InstanceMetadataClient{
+	tests := []struct {
+		name        string
+		getMetadata metadataGetter
+		assert      require.BoolAssertionFunc
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "not available",
 			getMetadata: func(ctx context.Context, path string) (string, error) {
 				return "", trace.NotFound("")
 			},
-		}
-		require.False(t, client.IsAvailable(context.Background()))
-	})
+			assert: require.False,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "not on gcp",
+			getMetadata: func(ctx context.Context, path string) (string, error) {
+				return "non-numeric id", nil
+			},
+			assert: require.False,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "on mocked gcp",
+			getMetadata: func(ctx context.Context, path string) (string, error) {
+				return "12345678", nil
+			},
+			assert: require.True,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			client := &InstanceMetadataClient{
+				getMetadata: tc.getMetadata,
+			}
+			tc.assert(t, client.IsAvailable(context.Background()))
+		})
+	}
 
-	t.Run("on gcp", func(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("on real gcp", func(t *testing.T) {
 		if os.Getenv("TELEPORT_TEST_GCP") == "" {
 			t.Skip("not on gcp")
 		}
diff --git a/lib/service/service.go b/lib/service/service.go
index 69eaf1452a1a4..8076d92650822 100644
--- a/lib/service/service.go
+++ b/lib/service/service.go
@@ -967,8 +967,12 @@ func NewTeleport(cfg *servicecfg.Config) (*TeleportProcess, error) {
 	imClient := cfg.InstanceMetadataClient
 	if imClient == nil {
 		imClient, err = cloud.DiscoverInstanceMetadata(supervisor.ExitContext())
-		if err != nil && !trace.IsNotFound(err) {
-			return nil, trace.Wrap(err)
+		if err == nil {
+			cfg.Logger.InfoContext(supervisor.ExitContext(),
+				"Found an instance metadata service. Teleport will import labels from this cloud instance.",
+				"type", imClient.GetType())
+		} else if !trace.IsNotFound(err) {
+			cfg.Logger.ErrorContext(supervisor.ExitContext(), "Error looking for cloud instance metadata.", "error", err)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -985,7 +989,7 @@ func NewTeleport(cfg *servicecfg.Config) (*TeleportProcess, error) {
 				cfg.Logger.InfoContext(supervisor.ExitContext(), "Found invalid hostname in cloud tag TeleportHostname.", "hostname", cloudHostname)
 			}
 		} else if !trace.IsNotFound(err) {
-			return nil, trace.Wrap(err)
+			cfg.Logger.ErrorContext(supervisor.ExitContext(), "Error looking for hostname tag.", "error", err)
 		}
 
 		cloudLabels, err = labels.NewCloudImporter(supervisor.ExitContext(), &labels.CloudConfig{
@@ -993,7 +997,7 @@ func NewTeleport(cfg *servicecfg.Config) (*TeleportProcess, error) {
 			Clock:  cfg.Clock,
 		})
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, trace.Wrap(err)
+			cfg.Logger.ErrorContext(supervisor.ExitContext(), "Cloud labels will not be imported.", "error", err)
 		}
 	}