diff --git a/src/lib/arch/win32/ArchMiscWindows.cpp b/src/lib/arch/win32/ArchMiscWindows.cpp
index 4171f1c4..92aad1a4 100644
--- a/src/lib/arch/win32/ArchMiscWindows.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/arch/win32/ArchMiscWindows.cpp
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ ArchMiscWindows::cleanup()
 void
 ArchMiscWindows::init()
 {
+	// stop windows system error dialogs from showing.
+	SetErrorMode(SEM_FAILCRITICALERRORS);
+
 	s_dialogs = new Dialogs;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/lib/arch/win32/ArchPluginWindows.cpp b/src/lib/arch/win32/ArchPluginWindows.cpp
index 2a223746..ce814cf5 100644
--- a/src/lib/arch/win32/ArchPluginWindows.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/arch/win32/ArchPluginWindows.cpp
@@ -60,8 +60,9 @@ ArchPluginWindows::load()
 		HINSTANCE library = LoadLibrary(path.c_str());
 
 		if (library == NULL) {
-			LOG((CLOG_ERR "failed to load plugin: %s %d", (*it).c_str(), GetLastError()));
-			throw XArch(new XArchEvalWindows);
+			String error = XArchEvalWindows().eval();
+			LOG((CLOG_ERR "failed to load plugin '%s', error: %s", (*it).c_str(), error.c_str()));
+			continue;
 		}
 
 		void* lib = reinterpret_cast<void*>(library);