diff --git a/src/w32-io.c b/src/w32-io.c
index 0d1c810e..6302ad97 100644
--- a/src/w32-io.c
+++ b/src/w32-io.c
@@ -700,7 +700,7 @@ writer (void *arg)
   for (;;)
     {
       LOCK (ctx->mutex);
-      if (ctx->stop_me)
+      if (ctx->stop_me && !ctx->nbytes)
 	{
 	  UNLOCK (ctx->mutex);
 	  break;
@@ -717,7 +717,7 @@ writer (void *arg)
 	  TRACE_LOG ("got data to send");
 	  LOCK (ctx->mutex);
        	}
-      if (ctx->stop_me)
+      if (ctx->stop_me && !ctx->nbytes)
 	{
 	  UNLOCK (ctx->mutex);
 	  break;
@@ -776,6 +776,9 @@ writer (void *arg)
   TRACE_LOG ("waiting for close");
   WaitForSingleObject (ctx->close_ev, INFINITE);
 
+  if (ctx->nbytes)
+    TRACE_LOG1 ("still %d bytes in buffer at close time", ctx->nbytes);
+
   CloseHandle (ctx->close_ev);
   CloseHandle (ctx->have_data);
   CloseHandle (ctx->is_empty);
@@ -892,6 +895,9 @@ destroy_writer (struct writer_context_s *ctx)
     SetEvent (ctx->have_data);
   UNLOCK (ctx->mutex);
 
+  /* Give the writer a chance to flush the buffer.  */
+  WaitForSingleObject (ctx->is_empty, INFINITE);
+
 #ifdef HAVE_W32CE_SYSTEM
   /* Scenario: We never create a full pipe, but already started
      writing more than the pipe buffer.  Then we need to unblock the