diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/main.cc b/gtk2_ardour/main.cc
index 9b1fdfdd1a..ab85302782 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/main.cc
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/main.cc
@@ -74,10 +74,6 @@
 #include <shellapi.h> // console
 #endif
 
-#ifdef HAVE_DRMINGW
-#include <exchndl.h>
-#endif
-
 #ifdef WAF_BUILD
 #include "gtk2ardour-version.h"
 #endif
@@ -342,7 +338,12 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 	}
 
 #ifdef HAVE_DRMINGW
-	if (true) {
+	/* prevent missing libs popups */
+	UINT prev_error_mode = SetErrorMode (SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS);
+	SetErrorMode (prev_error_mode | SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS);
+	HMODULE exchndl = LoadLibraryA ("exchndl.dll");
+
+	if (exchndl) {
 		/* %localappdata%\Ardour<X>\CrashLog\ */
 		string crash_dir = Glib::build_filename (Glib::get_user_data_dir (), string_compose ("%1%2", PROGRAM_NAME, PROGRAM_VERSION), "CrashLog");
 		g_mkdir_with_parents (crash_dir.c_str(), 0700);
@@ -351,10 +352,23 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 		string crash_file = string_compose ("%1-%2-crash-%3.txt", PROGRAM_NAME, VERSIONSTRING, tm.format ("%s"));
 		string crash_path = Glib::build_filename (crash_dir, crash_file);
 
-		ExcHndlInit ();
-		ExcHndlSetLogFileNameA (crash_path.c_str());
-		cout << "Crash Log: " << crash_path << endl;
+		typedef void (*exc_init_fn_t) (void);
+		typedef bool (*exc_path_fn_t) (const char *);
+
+		exc_init_fn_t exchndl_init = (exc_init_fn_t) GetProcAddress (exchndl, "ExcHndlInit");
+		exc_path_fn_t exchndl_path = (exc_path_fn_t) GetProcAddress (exchndl, "ExcHndlSetLogFileNameA");
+
+		if (exchndl_init && exchndl_path) {
+			exchndl_init ();
+			exchndl_path (crash_path.c_str());
+			cout << "Crash Log: " << crash_path << endl;
+		} else {
+			cout << "Cannot initialize crash reporter" << endl;
+		}
+	} else {
+		cout << "Crash reporter is not compatible with this system" << endl;
 	}
+	SetErrorMode (prev_error_mode);
 #endif
 
 	if (!ARDOUR::init (ARDOUR_COMMAND_LINE::use_vst, ARDOUR_COMMAND_LINE::try_hw_optimization, localedir.c_str(), true)) {
diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/wscript b/gtk2_ardour/wscript
index 0d2746d550..09a2f3b6ba 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/wscript
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/wscript
@@ -678,7 +678,6 @@ def build(bld):
     elif bld.env['build_target'] == 'mingw':
         obj.source += [ 'bundle_env_mingw.cc' ]
         obj.source += [ 'windows_icon.rc' ]
-        obj.uselib += ' DRMINGW '
     else:
         obj.source += [ 'bundle_env_linux.cc' ]
 
diff --git a/wscript b/wscript
index ecb020813d..0a0a2d149f 100644
--- a/wscript
+++ b/wscript
@@ -816,7 +816,7 @@ def options(opt):
                     help='Specify the target for cross-compiling [auto,none,x86,i386,i686,x86_64,tiger,leopard,mingw,msvc]')
     opt.add_option('--dr-mingw', action='store_true', default=True, dest='drmingw',
                     help='Write crashdumps using Dr.Mingw (Windows Only)')
-    opt.add_option('--no-dr-mingw', action='store_true', dest='drmingw')
+    opt.add_option('--no-dr-mingw', action='store_false', dest='drmingw')
     opt.add_option('--fpu-optimization', action='store_true', default=True, dest='fpu_optimization',
                     help='Build runtime checked assembler code (default)')
     opt.add_option('--no-fpu-optimization', action='store_false', dest='fpu_optimization')