diff --git a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/JvmErgonomics.java b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/JvmErgonomics.java
index 3fd40273449bf..b94859fa250e6 100644
--- a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/JvmErgonomics.java
+++ b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/JvmErgonomics.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.tools.java_version_checker.JavaVersion;
+
 import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -58,6 +60,11 @@ static List<String> choose(final List<String> userDefinedJvmOptions) throws Inte
         final long heapSize = extractHeapSize(finalJvmOptions);
         final long maxDirectMemorySize = extractMaxDirectMemorySize(finalJvmOptions);
         if (maxDirectMemorySize == 0) {
+            if (System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows") && JavaVersion.majorVersion(JavaVersion.CURRENT) == 8) {
+                Launchers.errPrintln("Warning: with JDK 8 on Windows, Elasticsearch may miscalculate MaxDirectMemorySize");
+                Launchers.errPrintln("  due to a JDK issue (JDK-8074459).");
+                Launchers.errPrintln("  Please use a newer version of Java or set MaxDirectMemorySize explicitly");
+            }
             ergonomicChoices.add("-XX:MaxDirectMemorySize=" + heapSize / 2);
         }
         return ergonomicChoices;
diff --git a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/JvmErgonomicsTests.java b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/JvmErgonomicsTests.java
index 7337558d083c3..5fdd9923b80f4 100644
--- a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/JvmErgonomicsTests.java
+++ b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/JvmErgonomicsTests.java
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ public void testExtractValidHeapSizeUsingMaxHeapSize() throws InterruptedExcepti
     }
 
     public void testExtractValidHeapSizeNoOptionPresent() throws InterruptedException, IOException {
-        // Muting on Windows, awaitsfix: https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/47384
-        assumeFalse(System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows"));
+        // Muted for jdk8/Windows, see: https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/47384
+        assumeFalse(System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows") && JavaVersion.majorVersion(JavaVersion.CURRENT) == 8);
         assertThat(
                 JvmErgonomics.extractHeapSize(JvmErgonomics.finalJvmOptions(Collections.emptyList())),
                 greaterThan(0L));
@@ -123,8 +123,9 @@ public void testExtractNoSystemProperties() {
         Map<String, String> parsedSystemProperties = JvmErgonomics.extractSystemProperties(Arrays.asList("-Xms1024M", "-Xmx1024M"));
         assertTrue(parsedSystemProperties.isEmpty());
     }
-    
+
     public void testMaxDirectMemorySizeChoice() throws InterruptedException, IOException {
+        // Muted for jdk8/Windows, see: https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/47384
         assumeFalse(System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows") && JavaVersion.majorVersion(JavaVersion.CURRENT) == 8);
         final Map<String, String> heapMaxDirectMemorySize = new HashMap<>();
         heapMaxDirectMemorySize.put("64M", Long.toString((64L << 20) / 2));