diff --git a/smoke-tests/apps/RuntimeAttach/src/main/java/com/microsoft/applicationinsights/smoketestapp/SpringBootApp.java b/smoke-tests/apps/RuntimeAttach/src/main/java/com/microsoft/applicationinsights/smoketestapp/SpringBootApp.java
index 4e55aefe9be..6bd7b4cfe7d 100644
--- a/smoke-tests/apps/RuntimeAttach/src/main/java/com/microsoft/applicationinsights/smoketestapp/SpringBootApp.java
+++ b/smoke-tests/apps/RuntimeAttach/src/main/java/com/microsoft/applicationinsights/smoketestapp/SpringBootApp.java
@@ -13,6 +13,13 @@
 public class SpringBootApp extends SpringBootServletInitializer {
 
   public static void main(String[] args) {
+    // Pre-load MethodHandle to avoid ClassCircularityError on Java 17 with runtime attach
+    // See https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java-instrumentation/issues/3396
+    try {
+      Class.forName("java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle");
+    } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+      // ignore
+    }
     ApplicationInsights.attach();
     SpringApplication.run(SpringBootApp.class, args);
   }
diff --git a/smoke-tests/apps/RuntimeAttachWithDelayedConnectionString/src/main/java/com/microsoft/applicationinsights/smoketestapp/SpringBootApp.java b/smoke-tests/apps/RuntimeAttachWithDelayedConnectionString/src/main/java/com/microsoft/applicationinsights/smoketestapp/SpringBootApp.java
index 4d1172cfc62..1aa3a17bb6b 100644
--- a/smoke-tests/apps/RuntimeAttachWithDelayedConnectionString/src/main/java/com/microsoft/applicationinsights/smoketestapp/SpringBootApp.java
+++ b/smoke-tests/apps/RuntimeAttachWithDelayedConnectionString/src/main/java/com/microsoft/applicationinsights/smoketestapp/SpringBootApp.java
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ public class SpringBootApp extends SpringBootServletInitializer {
   private static final String FAKE_INGESTION_ENDPOINT = "http://host.testcontainers.internal:6060/";
 
   public static void main(String[] args) {
+    // Pre-load MethodHandle to avoid ClassCircularityError on Java 17 with runtime attach
+    // See https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-java-instrumentation/issues/3396
+    try {
+      Class.forName("java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle");
+    } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+      // ignore
+    }
     ApplicationInsights.attach();
     ConnectionString.configure(
         "InstrumentationKey=00000000-0000-0000-0000-0FEEDDADBEEF;IngestionEndpoint="