diff --git a/src/client/datascience/jupyter/jupyterDebugger.ts b/src/client/datascience/jupyter/jupyterDebugger.ts
index 7637dd23831..e1c27677eb2 100644
--- a/src/client/datascience/jupyter/jupyterDebugger.ts
+++ b/src/client/datascience/jupyter/jupyterDebugger.ts
@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ import type { nbformat } from '@jupyterlab/coreutils';
 import { inject, injectable, named } from 'inversify';
 import { DebugConfiguration, Disposable } from 'vscode';
 import { ServerStatus } from '../../../datascience-ui/interactive-common/mainState';
-import { IPythonDebuggerPathProvider, IPythonInstaller } from '../../api/types';
+import { IPythonDebuggerPathProvider } from '../../api/types';
 import { traceInfo, traceWarning } from '../../common/logger';
 import { IPlatformService } from '../../common/platform/types';
-import { IConfigurationService, Product, ProductInstallStatus } from '../../common/types';
+import { IConfigurationService } from '../../common/types';
 import * as localize from '../../common/utils/localize';
+import { isUsingIpykernel6OrLater } from '../../debugger/jupyter/helper';
 import { Identifiers } from '../constants';
 import {
     ICellHashListener,
@@ -40,8 +41,7 @@ export class JupyterDebugger implements IJupyterDebugger, ICellHashListener {
         @inject(IJupyterDebugService)
         @named(Identifiers.MULTIPLEXING_DEBUGSERVICE)
         private debugService: IJupyterDebugService,
-        @inject(IPlatformService) private platform: IPlatformService,
-        @inject(IPythonInstaller) private installer: IPythonInstaller
+        @inject(IPlatformService) private platform: IPlatformService
     ) {
         this.debuggerPackage = 'debugpy';
         this.enableDebuggerCode = `import debugpy;debugpy.listen(('localhost', 0))`;
@@ -54,13 +54,9 @@ export class JupyterDebugger implements IJupyterDebugger, ICellHashListener {
         if (!notebook) {
             throw new Error('Notebook not initialized');
         }
-        const result = await this.installer.isProductVersionCompatible(
-            Product.ipykernel,
-            '>=6.0.0',
-            notebook.getKernelConnection()?.interpreter
-        );
+
         const settings = this.configService.getSettings(notebook.resource);
-        this.isUsingPyKernel6OrLater = result === ProductInstallStatus.Installed;
+        this.isUsingPyKernel6OrLater = await isUsingIpykernel6OrLater(kernel);
         return this.startDebugSession(
             (c) => this.debugService.startDebugging(undefined, c),
             notebook,
diff --git a/src/client/debugger/jupyter/debuggingManager.ts b/src/client/debugger/jupyter/debuggingManager.ts
index 6a784c20ba4..050ba419432 100644
--- a/src/client/debugger/jupyter/debuggingManager.ts
+++ b/src/client/debugger/jupyter/debuggingManager.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ import { IDebuggingManager, IKernelDebugAdapterConfig, KernelDebugMode } from '.
 import { DebuggingTelemetry, pythonKernelDebugAdapter } from '../constants';
 import { sendTelemetryEvent } from '../../telemetry';
 import { DebugCellController, RunByLineController } from './debugControllers';
-import { assertIsDebugConfig } from './helper';
+import { assertIsDebugConfig, isUsingIpykernel6OrLater } from './helper';
 import { Debugger } from './debugger';
 
 /**
@@ -428,18 +428,11 @@ export class DebuggingManager implements IExtensionSingleActivationService, IDeb
             }
 
             if (kernel) {
-                const code = 'import ipykernel\nprint(ipykernel.__version__)';
-                const output = await kernel.executeHidden(code);
-
-                if (output[0].text) {
-                    const majorVersion = Number(output[0].text.toString().charAt(0));
-                    const result = majorVersion >= 6;
-
-                    sendTelemetryEvent(DebuggingTelemetry.ipykernel6Status, undefined, {
-                        status: result ? 'installed' : 'notInstalled'
-                    });
-                    return result;
-                }
+                const result = await isUsingIpykernel6OrLater(kernel);
+                sendTelemetryEvent(DebuggingTelemetry.ipykernel6Status, undefined, {
+                    status: result ? 'installed' : 'notInstalled'
+                });
+                return result;
             }
         } catch {
             traceError('Debugging: Could not check for ipykernel 6');
diff --git a/src/client/debugger/jupyter/helper.ts b/src/client/debugger/jupyter/helper.ts
index 48c3d8614c7..48efd56c4fb 100644
--- a/src/client/debugger/jupyter/helper.ts
+++ b/src/client/debugger/jupyter/helper.ts
@@ -2,8 +2,22 @@
 // Licensed under the MIT License.
 
 import { DebugProtocol } from 'vscode-debugprotocol';
+import { IKernel } from '../../datascience/jupyter/kernels/types';
 import { IKernelDebugAdapterConfig, KernelDebugMode } from '../types';
 
+export async function isUsingIpykernel6OrLater(kernel: IKernel): Promise<boolean> {
+    const code = 'import ipykernel\nprint(ipykernel.__version__)';
+    const output = await kernel.executeHidden(code);
+
+    if (output[0].text) {
+        const version = output[0].text.toString().split('.');
+        const majorVersion = Number(version[0]);
+        return majorVersion >= 6;
+    }
+
+    return false;
+}
+
 export function assertIsDebugConfig(thing: unknown): asserts thing is IKernelDebugAdapterConfig {
     const config = thing as IKernelDebugAdapterConfig;
     if (