IntelliJ / Gradle problem: "Unable to start the daemon process"

Hey folks,

I'm trying to get Gradle running with my IDEA. The Java project builds / executes fine, but the debugger does not work. When I try to run it, I get this error:

Connected to the target VM, address: '(my local address)', transport: 'socket'
> Task :wrapper

BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 5s
1 actionable task: 1 executed
Unable to start the daemon process.
This problem might be caused by incorrect configuration of the daemon.
For example, an unrecognized jvm option is used.
Please refer to the user guide chapter on the daemon at https://docs.gradle.org/4.0/userguide/gradle_daemon.html
Please read the following process output to find out more:
-----------------------
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM warning: ignoring option MaxPermSize=256m; support was removed in 8.0
ERROR: transport error 202: connect failed: Connection refused
ERROR: JDWP Transport dt_socket failed to initialize, TRANSPORT_INIT(510)
JDWP exit error AGENT_ERROR_TRANSPORT_INIT(197): No transports initialized [debugInit.c:750]

Disconnected from the target VM, address: '(my local address)', transport: 'socket'
3:50:44 PM: Task execution finished 'run'.

How can I resolve this issue? I have read all of the posts on Stack Overflow and Gradle's website regarding this, but none of the solutions have worked, which include dropping the firewall and reassigning the values in Settings > Build, Execution, Deployment > Gradle > Gradle VM options:

I'm out of ideas here!