diff --git a/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/stack_overflow.rs b/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/stack_overflow.rs
index 627763da8561b..f93f31026f818 100644
--- a/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/stack_overflow.rs
+++ b/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/stack_overflow.rs
@@ -3,21 +3,12 @@
 use crate::sys::c;
 use crate::thread;
 
-use super::api;
-
-pub struct Handler;
-
-impl Handler {
-    pub unsafe fn new() -> Handler {
-        // This API isn't available on XP, so don't panic in that case and just
-        // pray it works out ok.
-        if c::SetThreadStackGuarantee(&mut 0x5000) == 0
-            && api::get_last_error().code != c::ERROR_CALL_NOT_IMPLEMENTED
-        {
-            panic!("failed to reserve stack space for exception handling");
-        }
-        Handler
-    }
+/// Reserve stack space for use in stack overflow exceptions.
+pub unsafe fn reserve_stack() {
+    let result = c::SetThreadStackGuarantee(&mut 0x5000);
+    // Reserving stack space is not critical so we allow it to fail in the released build of libstd.
+    // We still use debug assert here so that CI will test that we haven't made a mistake calling the function.
+    debug_assert_ne!(result, 0, "failed to reserve stack space for exception handling");
 }
 
 unsafe extern "system" fn vectored_handler(ExceptionInfo: *mut c::EXCEPTION_POINTERS) -> c::LONG {
@@ -36,9 +27,10 @@ unsafe extern "system" fn vectored_handler(ExceptionInfo: *mut c::EXCEPTION_POIN
 }
 
 pub unsafe fn init() {
-    if c::AddVectoredExceptionHandler(0, Some(vectored_handler)).is_null() {
-        panic!("failed to install exception handler");
-    }
+    let result = c::AddVectoredExceptionHandler(0, Some(vectored_handler));
+    // Similar to the above, adding the stack overflow handler is allowed to fail
+    // but a debug assert is used so CI will still test that it normally works.
+    debug_assert!(!result.is_null(), "failed to install exception handler");
     // Set the thread stack guarantee for the main thread.
-    let _h = Handler::new();
+    reserve_stack();
 }
diff --git a/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/stack_overflow_uwp.rs b/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/stack_overflow_uwp.rs
index afdf7f566ae51..9e9b3efaf1b14 100644
--- a/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/stack_overflow_uwp.rs
+++ b/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/stack_overflow_uwp.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,4 @@
 #![cfg_attr(test, allow(dead_code))]
 
-pub struct Handler;
-
-impl Handler {
-    pub fn new() -> Handler {
-        Handler
-    }
-}
-
+pub unsafe fn reserve_stack() {}
 pub unsafe fn init() {}
diff --git a/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/thread.rs b/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/thread.rs
index 80eee4e078db7..fe174e1e34063 100644
--- a/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/thread.rs
+++ b/library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/thread.rs
@@ -48,9 +48,8 @@ impl Thread {
 
         extern "system" fn thread_start(main: *mut c_void) -> c::DWORD {
             unsafe {
-                // Next, set up our stack overflow handler which may get triggered if we run
-                // out of stack.
-                let _handler = stack_overflow::Handler::new();
+                // Next, reserve some stack space for if we otherwise run out of stack.
+                stack_overflow::reserve_stack();
                 // Finally, let's run some code.
                 Box::from_raw(main as *mut Box<dyn FnOnce()>)();
             }