diff --git a/sourcemm/CPlugin.cpp b/sourcemm/CPlugin.cpp
index 2996f2b..ee4077d 100644
--- a/sourcemm/CPlugin.cpp
+++ b/sourcemm/CPlugin.cpp
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ CPluginManager::CPlugin *CPluginManager::_Load(const char *file, PluginId source
 		if (!pl->m_Lib)
 		{
 			if (error)
-				UTIL_Format(error, maxlen, "%s", dlerror());
+				UTIL_Format(error, maxlen, "[%d]", GetLastError());
 			pl->m_Status = Pl_Error;
 		} else {
 			CreateInterfaceFn pfn = (CreateInterfaceFn)(dlsym(pl->m_Lib, PL_EXPOSURE_C));
diff --git a/sourcemm/oslink.cpp b/sourcemm/oslink.cpp
index cee64a3..9c8ec16 100644
--- a/sourcemm/oslink.cpp
+++ b/sourcemm/oslink.cpp
@@ -16,17 +16,29 @@
 #include "oslink.h"
 #ifdef __linux
 #include <errno.h>
-#include <stdio.h>
 #endif
+#include <stdio.h>
 
 #if defined __WIN32__ || defined _WIN32 || defined WIN32
 const char *dlerror()
 {
 	static char buf[1024];
-	FormatMessage(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
-		NULL, GetLastError(),
-		MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), 
-		(LPTSTR) &buf, 0, NULL);
+	DWORD num;
+
+	num = GetLastError();
+
+	if (FormatMessage(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
+						NULL,
+						num,
+						MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), 
+						buf,
+						sizeof(buf),
+						NULL)
+		== 0)
+	{
+		_snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "unknown error %x", num);
+	}
+
 	return buf;
 }
 #endif