diff --git a/src/plugins/debugger/debuggerruncontrol.cpp b/src/plugins/debugger/debuggerruncontrol.cpp
index 6e283ba130195f31e127025c46b0165ba825cd7a..cb56f3e47f7c1e4c053c7b27bf5b0723552624fb 100644
--- a/src/plugins/debugger/debuggerruncontrol.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/debugger/debuggerruncontrol.cpp
@@ -740,7 +740,7 @@ void GdbServerPortsGatherer::start()
 // GdbServerRunner
 
 GdbServerRunner::GdbServerRunner(RunControl *runControl, GdbServerPortsGatherer *portsGatherer)
-   : RunWorker(runControl), m_portsGatherer(portsGatherer)
+   : SimpleTargetRunner(runControl), m_portsGatherer(portsGatherer)
 {
     setDisplayName("GdbServerRunner");
 }
@@ -778,22 +778,11 @@ void GdbServerRunner::start()
     r.executable = command;
     r.commandLineArguments = QtcProcess::joinArgs(args, OsTypeLinux);
 
-    connect(&m_gdbServer, &ApplicationLauncher::error, this, [this] {
-        reportFailure(tr("GDBserver start failed"));
-    });
-    connect(&m_gdbServer, &ApplicationLauncher::remoteProcessStarted, this, [this] {
-        appendMessage(tr("GDBserver started") + '\n', NormalMessageFormat);
-        reportStarted();
-    });
+    setRunnable(r);
 
-    appendMessage(tr("Starting GDBserver...") + '\n', NormalMessageFormat);
-    m_gdbServer.start(r, device());
-}
+    appendMessage(tr("Starting GDBserver..."), NormalMessageFormat);
 
-void GdbServerRunner::stop()
-{
-    m_gdbServer.stop();
-    reportStopped();
+    SimpleTargetRunner::start();
 }
 
 } // namespace Debugger
diff --git a/src/plugins/debugger/debuggerruncontrol.h b/src/plugins/debugger/debuggerruncontrol.h
index cf211b36bc6128a35f4b64a64166340804bf8c31..c22a4c969f5936ec35411983dbc0cb92ad1b5355 100644
--- a/src/plugins/debugger/debuggerruncontrol.h
+++ b/src/plugins/debugger/debuggerruncontrol.h
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ private:
     Utils::Port m_qmlServerPort;
 };
 
-class DEBUGGER_EXPORT GdbServerRunner : public ProjectExplorer::RunWorker
+class DEBUGGER_EXPORT GdbServerRunner : public ProjectExplorer::SimpleTargetRunner
 {
     Q_OBJECT
 
@@ -131,9 +131,7 @@ public:
 
 private:
     void start() override;
-    void stop() override;
 
-    ProjectExplorer::ApplicationLauncher m_gdbServer;
     GdbServerPortsGatherer *m_portsGatherer;
 };