diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/gcctoolchain.cpp b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/gcctoolchain.cpp
index 5626e08f12b..75ab1bc995c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/gcctoolchain.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/gcctoolchain.cpp
@@ -1023,10 +1023,11 @@ Toolchains GccToolChainFactory::detectForImport(const ToolChainDescription &tcd)
                                                   || fileName == "cc"))
             || (tcd.language == Constants::CXX_LANGUAGE_ID && (fileName.startsWith("g++")
                                                            || fileName.endsWith("g++")
-                                                           || fileName == "c++")))
+                                                           || fileName == "c++"))) {
         return autoDetectToolChain(tcd, [](const ToolChain *tc) {
             return tc->targetAbi().osFlavor() != Abi::WindowsMSysFlavor;
         });
+    }
     return {};
 }
 
@@ -1164,11 +1165,15 @@ Toolchains GccToolChainFactory::autoDetectToolChain(const ToolChainDescription &
     Environment systemEnvironment = Environment::systemEnvironment();
     GccToolChain::addCommandPathToEnvironment(tcd.compilerPath, systemEnvironment);
     const FilePath localCompilerPath = findLocalCompiler(tcd.compilerPath, systemEnvironment);
+    if (ToolChainManager::isBadToolchain(localCompilerPath))
+        return result;
     Macros macros
             = gccPredefinedMacros(localCompilerPath, gccPredefinedMacrosOptions(tcd.language),
                                   systemEnvironment);
-    if (macros.isEmpty())
+    if (macros.isEmpty()) {
+        ToolChainManager::addBadToolchain(localCompilerPath);
         return result;
+    }
     const GccToolChain::DetectedAbisResult detectedAbis = guessGccAbi(localCompilerPath,
                                                                       systemEnvironment,
                                                                       macros);
@@ -1640,8 +1645,9 @@ Toolchains ClangToolChainFactory::detectForImport(const ToolChainDescription &tc
 {
     const QString fileName = tcd.compilerPath.toString();
     if ((tcd.language == Constants::C_LANGUAGE_ID && fileName.startsWith("clang") && !fileName.startsWith("clang++"))
-            || (tcd.language == Constants::CXX_LANGUAGE_ID && fileName.startsWith("clang++")))
+            || (tcd.language == Constants::CXX_LANGUAGE_ID && fileName.startsWith("clang++"))) {
         return autoDetectToolChain(tcd);
+    }
     return {};
 }
 
@@ -1820,10 +1826,11 @@ Toolchains MingwToolChainFactory::detectForImport(const ToolChainDescription &tc
     if ((tcd.language == Constants::C_LANGUAGE_ID && (fileName.startsWith("gcc")
                                                       || fileName.endsWith("gcc")))
             || (tcd.language == Constants::CXX_LANGUAGE_ID && (fileName.startsWith("g++")
-                                                               || fileName.endsWith("g++"))))
+                                                               || fileName.endsWith("g++")))) {
         return autoDetectToolChain(tcd, [](const ToolChain *tc) {
             return tc->targetAbi().osFlavor() == Abi::WindowsMSysFlavor;
         });
+    }
 
     return {};
 }
@@ -1896,8 +1903,9 @@ Toolchains LinuxIccToolChainFactory::detectForImport(const ToolChainDescription
 {
     const QString fileName = tcd.compilerPath.toString();
     if ((tcd.language == Constants::CXX_LANGUAGE_ID && fileName.startsWith("icpc")) ||
-        (tcd.language == Constants::C_LANGUAGE_ID && fileName.startsWith("icc")))
+        (tcd.language == Constants::C_LANGUAGE_ID && fileName.startsWith("icc"))) {
         return autoDetectToolChain(tcd);
+    }
     return {};
 }
 
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchain.cpp b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchain.cpp
index b3ad7cea475..51a4e00665e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchain.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchain.cpp
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@
 #include <QFileInfo>
 #include <QUuid>
 
+#include <utility>
+
 using namespace Utils;
 
 static const char ID_KEY[] = "ProjectExplorer.ToolChain.Id";
@@ -652,4 +654,62 @@ ToolchainDetector::ToolchainDetector(const Toolchains &alreadyKnown, const IDevi
     : alreadyKnown(alreadyKnown), device(device)
 {}
 
+BadToolchain::BadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &filePath)
+    : BadToolchain(filePath, filePath.symLinkTarget(), filePath.lastModified())
+{}
+
+BadToolchain::BadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &filePath, const Utils::FilePath &symlinkTarget,
+                           const QDateTime &timestamp)
+    : filePath(filePath), symlinkTarget(symlinkTarget), timestamp(timestamp)
+{}
+
+
+static QString badToolchainFilePathKey() { return {"FilePath"}; }
+static QString badToolchainSymlinkTargetKey() { return {"TargetFilePath"}; }
+static QString badToolchainTimestampKey() { return {"Timestamp"}; }
+
+QVariantMap BadToolchain::toMap() const
+{
+    return {
+        std::make_pair(badToolchainFilePathKey(), filePath.toVariant()),
+        std::make_pair(badToolchainSymlinkTargetKey(), symlinkTarget.toVariant()),
+        std::make_pair(badToolchainTimestampKey(), timestamp.toMSecsSinceEpoch()),
+    };
+}
+
+BadToolchain BadToolchain::fromMap(const QVariantMap &map)
+{
+    return {
+        FilePath::fromVariant(map.value(badToolchainFilePathKey())),
+        FilePath::fromVariant(map.value(badToolchainSymlinkTargetKey())),
+        QDateTime::fromMSecsSinceEpoch(map.value(badToolchainTimestampKey()).toLongLong())
+    };
+}
+
+BadToolchains::BadToolchains(const QList<BadToolchain> &toolchains)
+    : toolchains(Utils::filtered(toolchains, [](const BadToolchain &badTc) {
+          return badTc.filePath.lastModified() == badTc.timestamp
+                  && badTc.filePath.symLinkTarget() == badTc.symlinkTarget;
+      }))
+{}
+
+bool BadToolchains::isBadToolchain(const FilePath &toolchain) const
+{
+    return Utils::contains(toolchains, [toolchain](const BadToolchain &badTc) {
+        return badTc.filePath == toolchain.absoluteFilePath()
+                || badTc.symlinkTarget == toolchain.absoluteFilePath();
+    });
+}
+
+QVariant BadToolchains::toVariant() const
+{
+    return Utils::transform<QVariantList>(toolchains, &BadToolchain::toMap);
+}
+
+BadToolchains BadToolchains::fromVariant(const QVariant &v)
+{
+    return Utils::transform<QList<BadToolchain>>(v.toList(),
+            [](const QVariant &e) { return BadToolchain::fromMap(e.toMap()); });
+}
+
 } // namespace ProjectExplorer
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchain.h b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchain.h
index 1c4b1a09fb2..82e9b299f27 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchain.h
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchain.h
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
 #include <utils/fileutils.h>
 #include <utils/id.h>
 
+#include <QDateTime>
 #include <QObject>
 #include <QStringList>
 #include <QVariantMap>
@@ -214,11 +215,41 @@ private:
 
 using Toolchains = QList<ToolChain *>;
 
+class PROJECTEXPLORER_EXPORT BadToolchain
+{
+public:
+    BadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &filePath);
+    BadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &filePath, const Utils::FilePath &symlinkTarget,
+                 const QDateTime &timestamp);
+
+    QVariantMap toMap() const;
+    static BadToolchain fromMap(const QVariantMap &map);
+
+    Utils::FilePath filePath;
+    Utils::FilePath symlinkTarget;
+    QDateTime timestamp;
+};
+
+class PROJECTEXPLORER_EXPORT BadToolchains
+{
+public:
+    BadToolchains(const QList<BadToolchain> &toolchains = {});
+    bool isBadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &toolchain) const;
+
+    QVariant toVariant() const;
+    static BadToolchains fromVariant(const QVariant &v);
+
+    QList<BadToolchain> toolchains;
+};
+
 class PROJECTEXPLORER_EXPORT ToolchainDetector
 {
 public:
     ToolchainDetector(const Toolchains &alreadyKnown, const IDevice::ConstPtr &device);
 
+    bool isBadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &toolchain) const;
+    void addBadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &toolchain) const;
+
     const Toolchains alreadyKnown;
     const IDevice::ConstPtr device;
 };
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainmanager.cpp b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainmanager.cpp
index 545601f2b87..012800a18eb 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainmanager.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainmanager.cpp
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ public:
     std::unique_ptr<ToolChainSettingsAccessor> m_accessor;
 
     Toolchains m_toolChains; // prioritized List
+    BadToolchains m_badToolchains;   // to be skipped when auto-detecting
     QVector<LanguageDisplayPair> m_languages;
     ToolchainDetectionSettings m_detectionSettings;
     bool m_loaded = false;
@@ -83,6 +84,8 @@ using namespace Internal;
 
 const char DETECT_X64_AS_X32_KEY[] = "ProjectExplorer/Toolchains/DetectX64AsX32";
 
+static QString badToolchainsKey() { return {"BadToolChains"}; }
+
 // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // ToolChainManager
 // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -104,6 +107,7 @@ ToolChainManager::ToolChainManager(QObject *parent) :
     QSettings * const s = Core::ICore::settings();
     d->m_detectionSettings.detectX64AsX32
         = s->value(DETECT_X64_AS_X32_KEY, ToolchainDetectionSettings().detectX64AsX32).toBool();
+    d->m_badToolchains = BadToolchains::fromVariant(s->value(badToolchainsKey()));
 }
 
 ToolChainManager::~ToolChainManager()
@@ -139,6 +143,7 @@ void ToolChainManager::saveToolChains()
     s->setValueWithDefault(DETECT_X64_AS_X32_KEY,
                            d->m_detectionSettings.detectX64AsX32,
                            ToolchainDetectionSettings().detectX64AsX32);
+    s->setValue(badToolchainsKey(), d->m_badToolchains.toVariant());
 }
 
 const Toolchains &ToolChainManager::toolchains()
@@ -278,4 +283,19 @@ void ToolChainManager::setDetectionSettings(const ToolchainDetectionSettings &se
     d->m_detectionSettings = settings;
 }
 
+void ToolChainManager::resetBadToolchains()
+{
+    d->m_badToolchains.toolchains.clear();
+}
+
+bool ToolChainManager::isBadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &toolchain)
+{
+    return d->m_badToolchains.isBadToolchain(toolchain);
+}
+
+void ToolChainManager::addBadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &toolchain)
+{
+    d->m_badToolchains.toolchains << toolchain;
+}
+
 } // namespace ProjectExplorer
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainmanager.h b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainmanager.h
index d755176fc7f..31d546f595e 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainmanager.h
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainmanager.h
@@ -83,6 +83,10 @@ public:
     static ToolchainDetectionSettings detectionSettings();
     static void setDetectionSettings(const ToolchainDetectionSettings &settings);
 
+    static void resetBadToolchains();
+    static bool isBadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &toolchain);
+    static void addBadToolchain(const Utils::FilePath &toolchain);
+
     void saveToolChains();
 
 signals:
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainoptionspage.cpp b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainoptionspage.cpp
index 7a0674c3728..f00043fb192 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainoptionspage.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/toolchainoptionspage.cpp
@@ -412,6 +412,7 @@ void ToolChainOptionsWidget::redetectToolchains()
     });
     Toolchains toAdd;
     QSet<ToolChain *> toDelete;
+    ToolChainManager::resetBadToolchains();
     for (ToolChainFactory *f : ToolChainFactory::allToolChainFactories()) {
         const ToolchainDetector detector(knownTcs, {});  // FIXME: Pass device.
         for (ToolChain * const tc : f->autoDetect(detector)) {