diff --git a/src/common/popupcmn.cpp b/src/common/popupcmn.cpp
index 1e789810b1..98eb20b873 100644
--- a/src/common/popupcmn.cpp
+++ b/src/common/popupcmn.cpp
@@ -260,8 +260,16 @@ void wxPopupTransientWindow::Popup(wxWindow *winFocus)
 
     m_child->PushEventHandler(m_handlerPopup);
 
-    m_focus = winFocus ? winFocus : this;
-    m_focus->SetFocus();
+#if defined(__WXMSW__)
+    // Focusing on child of popup window does not work on MSW unless WS_POPUP
+    // style is set. We do not even want to try to set the focus, as it may
+    // provoke errors on some Windows versions (Vista and later).
+    if ( ::GetWindowLong(GetHwnd(), GWL_STYLE) & WS_POPUP )
+#endif
+    {
+        m_focus = winFocus ? winFocus : this;
+        m_focus->SetFocus();
+    }
 
 #if defined( __WXMSW__ ) || defined( __WXMAC__)
     // MSW doesn't allow to set focus to the popup window, but we need to