diff --git a/main/src/main/java/sbt/internal/MetaBuildLoader.java b/main/src/main/java/sbt/internal/MetaBuildLoader.java
index 08a80aa24..5c83ceed5 100644
--- a/main/src/main/java/sbt/internal/MetaBuildLoader.java
+++ b/main/src/main/java/sbt/internal/MetaBuildLoader.java
@@ -117,6 +117,21 @@ public final class MetaBuildLoader extends URLClassLoader {
       if (!foundSBTLoader) topLoader = topLoader.getParent();
     }
     if (topLoader == null) topLoader = scalaProvider.launcher().topLoader();
+    // the bundled version of jansi with old versions of the launcher cause
+    // problems so we need to exclude it from classloading
+    topLoader =
+        new ClassLoader(topLoader) {
+          @Override
+          protected Class<?> loadClass(String name, boolean resolve) throws ClassNotFoundException {
+            if (name.startsWith("org.fusesource")) throw new ClassNotFoundException(name);
+            return super.loadClass(name, resolve);
+          }
+
+          @Override
+          public String toString() {
+            return "JansiExclusionClassLoader";
+          }
+        };
 
     final TestInterfaceLoader interfaceLoader = new TestInterfaceLoader(interfaceURLs, topLoader);
     final JLineLoader jlineLoader = new JLineLoader(jlineURLs, interfaceLoader);
diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Defaults.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Defaults.scala
index 8e5ab3f79..c6200785f 100644
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Defaults.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Defaults.scala
@@ -1059,8 +1059,17 @@ object Defaults extends BuildCommon {
       classLoaderCache: ClassLoaderCache,
       topLoader: ClassLoader,
   ): ScalaInstance = {
+    // Scala 2.10 shades jline in the console so we need to make sure that it loads a compatible
+    // jansi version. Because of the shading, console does not work with the thin client for 2.10.x.
+    val jansiExclusionLoader = if (version.startsWith("2.10.")) new ClassLoader(topLoader) {
+      override protected def loadClass(name: String, resolve: Boolean): Class[_] = {
+        if (name.startsWith("org.fusesource")) throw new ClassNotFoundException(name)
+        super.loadClass(name, resolve)
+      }
+    }
+    else topLoader
     val allJarsDistinct = allJars.distinct
-    val libraryLoader = classLoaderCache(libraryJars.toList, topLoader)
+    val libraryLoader = classLoaderCache(libraryJars.toList, jansiExclusionLoader)
     val fullLoader = classLoaderCache(allJarsDistinct.toList, libraryLoader)
     new ScalaInstance(
       version,