diff --git a/src/Aspire.Hosting/Dcp/ApplicationExecutor.cs b/src/Aspire.Hosting/Dcp/ApplicationExecutor.cs
index 0d604ea457c..121fe1292a1 100644
--- a/src/Aspire.Hosting/Dcp/ApplicationExecutor.cs
+++ b/src/Aspire.Hosting/Dcp/ApplicationExecutor.cs
@@ -199,8 +199,11 @@ private async Task StartDashboardAsDcpExecutableAsync(CancellationToken cancella
             throw new DistributedApplicationException("Error getting the resource service URL.", ex);
         }
 
+        // Matches DashboardWebApplication.DashboardUrlDefaultValue
+        const string defaultDashboardUrl = "http://localhost:18888";
+
         var otlpEndpointUrl = environmentVariables.GetString("DOTNET_DASHBOARD_OTLP_ENDPOINT_URL");
-        var dashboardUrls = environmentVariables.GetString("ASPNETCORE_URLS") ?? throw new DistributedApplicationException("ASPNETCORE_URLS environment variable not set.");
+        var dashboardUrls = environmentVariables.GetString("ASPNETCORE_URLS") ?? defaultDashboardUrl;
         var aspnetcoreEnvironment = environmentVariables.GetString("ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT");
 
         dashboardExecutableSpec.Env =