diff --git a/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/vector/OpenSearchVectorService.java b/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/vector/OpenSearchVectorService.java
index 8159a382298a..ee5cf96d8ceb 100644
--- a/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/vector/OpenSearchVectorService.java
+++ b/openmetadata-service/src/main/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/vector/OpenSearchVectorService.java
@@ -434,11 +434,27 @@ public List<String> searchChunksByParent(String parentId, String query, int k) {
   /**
    * Begins a staged recreate for a full-recreate run: pre-flights the embedding client (a broken
    * client would make the whole run pointless), sweeps generations orphaned by crashed runs, and
-   * creates the next generation bare — no aliases, so reads keep hitting the old chunks. Throws on
-   * any failure; nothing has been destroyed at that point.
+   * creates the next generation bare — no aliases, so reads keep hitting the old chunks.
+   *
+   * <p>Returns {@code null} when the embedding client cannot serve a request, meaning "not staged":
+   * the caller carries on with a normal in-place reindex and the existing chunks stay live, exactly
+   * as they do for a partial recreate. An unreachable embedding provider is a reason not to stage a
+   * generation we could never finish — it is not a reason to fail the entity reindex, which does
+   * not need embeddings at all. Note the provider is only exercised here: client construction makes
+   * no call to it, and live indexing logs and continues on embedding errors, so a deployment with
+   * semantic search enabled but no working provider looks healthy right up until a reindex.
+   *
+   * <p>Still throws on genuine staging failures (indeterminate live-target probe, index create) —
+   * those mean the cluster is in a state where continuing could destroy live chunks.
    */
   public String beginStagedChunkRecreate() {
-    preflightEmbedding();
+    if (!isEmbeddingAvailable()) {
+      LOG.warn(
+          "Embedding pre-flight failed — skipping the staged chunk recreate. The entity reindex "
+              + "continues and existing chunks stay live; orphaned chunks, if any, are swept by the "
+              + "next recreate that runs with a working embedding provider.");
+      return null;
+    }
     synchronized (stagedChunkLock) {
       String base = getChunkIndexName();
       String liveTarget = requireResolvedLiveChunkTarget(base);
@@ -479,12 +495,18 @@ public void clearStagedChunkState(String generation) {
     }
   }
 
-  private void preflightEmbedding() {
+  /**
+   * Whether the embedding client can actually serve a request. Logged rather than thrown: the only
+   * caller treats an unavailable provider as "do not stage", and the stack trace belongs in the log
+   * next to the provider's own error, not wrapped in a reindex failure.
+   */
+  private boolean isEmbeddingAvailable() {
     try {
       embeddingClient.embedQuery("chunk index recreate pre-flight");
+      return true;
     } catch (Exception e) {
-      throw new RuntimeException(
-          "Refusing to start a staged chunk-index recreate: embedding client pre-flight failed", e);
+      LOG.warn("Embedding client pre-flight failed: {}", e.getMessage(), e);
+      return false;
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/openmetadata-service/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/vector/OpenSearchVectorServiceChunkStagingTest.java b/openmetadata-service/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/vector/OpenSearchVectorServiceChunkStagingTest.java
index 71d9f5779568..5d233262e49f 100644
--- a/openmetadata-service/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/vector/OpenSearchVectorServiceChunkStagingTest.java
+++ b/openmetadata-service/src/test/java/org/openmetadata/service/search/vector/OpenSearchVectorServiceChunkStagingTest.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
@@ -113,4 +114,26 @@ void beginStagedChunkRecreate_abortsWhenTheLiveTargetProbeIsIndeterminate() thro
         "abort must name the unresolved live target. Got: " + failure.getMessage());
     verify(client, never()).generic();
   }
+
+  @Test
+  void beginStagedChunkRecreate_skipsStagingWhenTheEmbeddingProviderIsUnavailable()
+      throws IOException {
+    // An unreachable embedding provider must not fail the reindex. Semantic search ships enabled
+    // with the provider defaulting to bedrock, and the client constructs without ever calling it,
+    // so any deployment that never set Bedrock up reaches this pre-flight — and the entity reindex
+    // it would abort does not need embeddings at all. Skip staging, leave the old chunks live, and
+    // touch nothing in the cluster.
+    OpenSearchClient client = mock(OpenSearchClient.class);
+    EmbeddingClient embeddingClient = mock(EmbeddingClient.class);
+    when(embeddingClient.embedQuery(any(String.class)))
+        .thenThrow(new RuntimeException("Bedrock embedding generation failed (AWS service error)"));
+
+    OpenSearchVectorService service = new OpenSearchVectorService(client, embeddingClient);
+
+    assertNull(
+        service.beginStagedChunkRecreate(),
+        "an unavailable embedding provider must read as 'not staged', not as a failure");
+    verify(client, never()).indices();
+    verify(client, never()).generic();
+  }
 }