diff --git a/build/lib/policies.js b/build/lib/policies.js
index 3e2a10df350e1b..7b1bbdf394acdd 100644
--- a/build/lib/policies.js
+++ b/build/lib/policies.js
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ async function getLatestStableVersion(updateUrl) {
     const { name: version } = await res.json();
     return version;
 }
-async function getNLS(resourceUrlTemplate, languageId, version) {
+async function getSpecificNLS(resourceUrlTemplate, languageId, version) {
     const resource = {
         publisher: 'ms-ceintl',
         name: `vscode-language-pack-${languageId}`,
@@ -422,9 +422,30 @@ async function getNLS(resourceUrlTemplate, languageId, version) {
     };
     const url = resourceUrlTemplate.replace(/\{([^}]+)\}/g, (_, key) => resource[key]);
     const res = await (0, node_fetch_1.default)(url);
+    if (res.status !== 200) {
+        throw new Error(`[${res.status}] Error downloading language pack ${languageId}@${version}`);
+    }
     const { contents: result } = await res.json();
     return result;
 }
+function previousVersion(version) {
+    const [, major, minor, patch] = /^(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)$/.exec(version);
+    return `${major}.${parseInt(minor) - 1}.${patch}`;
+}
+async function getNLS(resourceUrlTemplate, languageId, version) {
+    try {
+        return await getSpecificNLS(resourceUrlTemplate, languageId, version);
+    }
+    catch (err) {
+        if (/\[404\]/.test(err.message)) {
+            console.warn(`Language pack ${languageId}@${version} is missing. Downloading previous version...`);
+            return await getSpecificNLS(resourceUrlTemplate, languageId, previousVersion(version));
+        }
+        else {
+            throw err;
+        }
+    }
+}
 async function parsePolicies() {
     const parser = new Parser();
     parser.setLanguage(typescript);
diff --git a/build/lib/policies.ts b/build/lib/policies.ts
index 62ea4d561e59dc..eaa8cb719a25ff 100644
--- a/build/lib/policies.ts
+++ b/build/lib/policies.ts
@@ -593,7 +593,7 @@ async function getLatestStableVersion(updateUrl: string) {
 	return version;
 }
 
-async function getNLS(resourceUrlTemplate: string, languageId: string, version: string) {
+async function getSpecificNLS(resourceUrlTemplate: string, languageId: string, version: string) {
 	const resource = {
 		publisher: 'ms-ceintl',
 		name: `vscode-language-pack-${languageId}`,
@@ -603,10 +603,33 @@ async function getNLS(resourceUrlTemplate: string, languageId: string, version:
 
 	const url = resourceUrlTemplate.replace(/\{([^}]+)\}/g, (_, key) => resource[key as keyof typeof resource]);
 	const res = await fetch(url);
+
+	if (res.status !== 200) {
+		throw new Error(`[${res.status}] Error downloading language pack ${languageId}@${version}`);
+	}
+
 	const { contents: result } = await res.json() as { contents: LanguageTranslations };
 	return result;
 }
 
+function previousVersion(version: string): string {
+	const [, major, minor, patch] = /^(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)$/.exec(version)!;
+	return `${major}.${parseInt(minor) - 1}.${patch}`;
+}
+
+async function getNLS(resourceUrlTemplate: string, languageId: string, version: string) {
+	try {
+		return await getSpecificNLS(resourceUrlTemplate, languageId, version);
+	} catch (err) {
+		if (/\[404\]/.test(err.message)) {
+			console.warn(`Language pack ${languageId}@${version} is missing. Downloading previous version...`);
+			return await getSpecificNLS(resourceUrlTemplate, languageId, previousVersion(version));
+		} else {
+			throw err;
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 async function parsePolicies(): Promise<Policy[]> {
 	const parser = new Parser();
 	parser.setLanguage(typescript);