diff -r 6b3cc8b7c589 src/thread/windows/SDL_systhread.c
--- a/src/thread/windows/SDL_systhread.c	Tue Oct 01 08:47:06 2013 -0300
+++ b/src/thread/windows/SDL_systhread.c	Wed Oct 02 10:49:55 2013 +0200
@@ -145,35 +145,51 @@
     return 0;
 }
 
-#ifdef _MSC_VER
-#pragma warning(disable : 4733)
-#pragma pack(push,8)
+/* These macros can be used to disable thread names or force a certain behavior.
+ * SDL_THREAD_NAMES_DISABLED       Disable thread names.
+ * SDL_THREAD_FORCE_VECTORED_EH    Always use vectored exception handling.
+ */
+#ifndef SDL_THREAD_NAMES_DISABLED
+/* The size of this struct should be 16 bytes for x86 and 24 bytes for x64. */
 typedef struct tagTHREADNAME_INFO
 {
-    DWORD dwType; /* must be 0x1000 */
+    ULONG_PTR dwType; /* must be 0x1000 */
     LPCSTR szName; /* pointer to name (in user addr space) */
     DWORD dwThreadID; /* thread ID (-1=caller thread) */
     DWORD dwFlags; /* reserved for future use, must be zero */
 } THREADNAME_INFO;
-#pragma pack(pop)
 
-static EXCEPTION_DISPOSITION
-ignore_exception(void *a, void *b, void *c, void *d)
+#if defined(SDL_THREAD_FORCE_VECTORED_EH) || !defined(HAVE_LIBC)
+/* Do the exception handling with a vectored exception handler. */
+#define SDL_THREAD_VECTORED_EH
+#elif defined(_MSC_VER) && defined(HAVE_LIBC)
+/* Do the exception handling with Visual C++'s __try/__except extension. */
+#define SDL_THREAD_MSVC_TRY_EXCEPT
+#else
+/* No way of handling the exception. Disable thread names. */
+#define SDL_THREAD_NAMES_DISABLED
+#endif
+
+#ifdef SDL_THREAD_VECTORED_EH
+static LONG CALLBACK
+ignore_exception(PEXCEPTION_POINTERS ExceptionInfo)
 {
-    return ExceptionContinueExecution;
+    if (ExceptionInfo->ExceptionRecord->ExceptionCode == 0x406D1388) {
+        return EXCEPTION_CONTINUE_EXECUTION; /* -1 */
+    }
+    return EXCEPTION_CONTINUE_SEARCH; /* 0 */
 }
+
+/* This acts as a flag that the handler has been added. It's not pretty. Any Ideas? */
+static void *vectored_exception_handler = NULL;
+#endif
 #endif
 
 void
 SDL_SYS_SetupThread(const char *name)
 {
+    #ifndef SDL_THREAD_NAMES_DISABLED
     if (name != NULL) {
-        #if (defined(_MSC_VER) && defined(_M_IX86))
-        /* This magic tells the debugger to name a thread if it's listening.
-            The inline asm sets up SEH (__try/__except) without C runtime
-            support. See Microsoft Systems Journal, January 1997:
-            http://www.microsoft.com/msj/0197/exception/exception.aspx */
-        INT_PTR handler = (INT_PTR) ignore_exception;
         THREADNAME_INFO inf;
 
         inf.dwType = 0x1000;
@@ -181,22 +197,23 @@
         inf.dwThreadID = (DWORD) -1;
         inf.dwFlags = 0;
 
-        __asm {   /* set up SEH */
-            push handler
-            push fs:[0]
-            mov fs:[0],esp
+        #if defined(SDL_THREAD_VECTORED_EH)
+        if (vectored_exception_handler == NULL) {
+            vectored_exception_handler = ignore_exception;
+            AddVectoredExceptionHandler(0, ignore_exception);
         }
+        #elif defined(SDL_THREAD_MSVC_TRY_EXCEPT)
+        __try {
+        #endif
 
         /* The program itself should ignore this bogus exception. */
-        RaiseException(0x406D1388, 0, sizeof(inf)/sizeof(DWORD), (DWORD*)&inf);
+        RaiseException(0x406D1388, 0, sizeof(inf)/sizeof(DWORD), (const ULONG_PTR*)&inf);
 
-        __asm {  /* tear down SEH. */
-            mov eax,[esp]
-            mov fs:[0], eax
-            add esp, 8
-        }
+        #if defined(SDL_THREAD_MSVC_TRY_EXCEPT)
+        } __except(EXCEPTION_EXECUTE_HANDLER) {}
         #endif
     }
+    #endif
 }
 
 SDL_threadID