diff --git a/qutebrowser/app.py b/qutebrowser/app.py
index ba8851b91..8d8696af9 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/app.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/app.py
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 
 ### Things we want to do before normal imports ###
 
+import sys
+
 # Print a nice traceback on segfault -- only available on Python 3.3+, but if
 # it's unavailable, it doesn't matter much.
 try:
@@ -26,7 +28,16 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     pass
 else:
-    faulthandler.enable()
+    if sys.__stdout__ is not None:
+        # When run with pythonw.exe, sys.__stdout__ can be None:
+        # https://docs.python.org/3/library/sys.html#sys.__stdout__
+        # If we'd enable faulthandler in that case, we just get a weird
+        # exception, so we don't enable faulthandler in that case.
+        #
+        # FIXME at the point we have our config/data dirs, we probably should
+        # re-enable faulthandler to write to a file. Then we can also display
+        # crashes to the user at the next start.
+        faulthandler.enable()
 
 # See https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/QTBUG-36099
 # We need to do this before importing PyQt
@@ -37,8 +48,8 @@ harfbuzz.fix()
 import qutebrowser.utils.dependencies as dependencies
 dependencies.check()
 
+# Early imports done, normal imports following now.
 import os
-import sys
 import logging
 import subprocess
 import configparser
diff --git a/qutebrowser/utils/debug.py b/qutebrowser/utils/debug.py
index dbce1a079..c43a4fd62 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/utils/debug.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/utils/debug.py
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ def set_trace():
 
     Based on http://stackoverflow.com/a/1745965/2085149
     """
-    sys.stdout.flush()
+    if sys.stdout is not None:
+        sys.stdout.flush()
     print()
     print("When done debugging, remember to execute:")
     print("  from PyQt5 import QtCore; QtCore.pyqtRestoreInputHook()")
diff --git a/qutebrowser/utils/misc.py b/qutebrowser/utils/misc.py
index 5c9880359..e50f9f6b0 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/utils/misc.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/utils/misc.py
@@ -167,7 +167,8 @@ def actute_warning():
     with open('/usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/Compose', 'r') as f:
         for line in f:
             if '<dead_actute>' in line:
-                sys.stdout.flush()
+                if sys.stdout is not None:
+                    sys.stdout.flush()
                 print("Note: If you got a 'dead_actute' warning above, that "
                       "is not a bug in qutebrowser! See "
                       "https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=69476 for "