diff --git a/javalib/src/android/system/virtualmachine/VirtualMachineManager.java b/javalib/src/android/system/virtualmachine/VirtualMachineManager.java
index 1250bd1..1607c0a 100644
--- a/javalib/src/android/system/virtualmachine/VirtualMachineManager.java
+++ b/javalib/src/android/system/virtualmachine/VirtualMachineManager.java
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@
      *
      * @see #getOrCreate
      * @throws VirtualMachineException if the virtual machine exists but could not be successfully
-     *     retrieved.
+     *     retrieved. This can be resolved by calling {@link #delete} on the VM.
      * @hide
      */
     @SystemApi
diff --git a/tests/helper/src/java/com/android/microdroid/test/device/MicrodroidDeviceTestBase.java b/tests/helper/src/java/com/android/microdroid/test/device/MicrodroidDeviceTestBase.java
index 15e175b..8e11218 100644
--- a/tests/helper/src/java/com/android/microdroid/test/device/MicrodroidDeviceTestBase.java
+++ b/tests/helper/src/java/com/android/microdroid/test/device/MicrodroidDeviceTestBase.java
@@ -150,8 +150,15 @@
     public VirtualMachine forceCreateNewVirtualMachine(String name, VirtualMachineConfig config)
             throws VirtualMachineException {
         final VirtualMachineManager vmm = getVirtualMachineManager();
-        VirtualMachine existingVm = vmm.get(name);
-        if (existingVm != null) {
+        boolean deleteExisting;
+        try {
+            deleteExisting = vmm.get(name) != null;
+        } catch (VirtualMachineException e) {
+            // VM exists, i.e. there are some files for it, but they could not be successfully
+            // loaded.
+            deleteExisting = true;
+        }
+        if (deleteExisting) {
             vmm.delete(name);
         }
         return vmm.create(name, config);