diff --git a/app/app.c b/app/app.c
index 8d1a52d8cd..8da70a77fe 100644
--- a/app/app.c
+++ b/app/app.c
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@
 #include "core/gimp.h"
 #include "core/gimp-batch.h"
 #include "core/gimp-user-install.h"
+#include "core/gimpbacktrace.h"
 #include "core/gimpimage.h"
 
 #include "file/file-open.h"
@@ -217,6 +218,12 @@ app_run (const gchar         *full_prog_name,
       filenames = NULL;
     }
 
+  /* Initialize GimpBacktrace early on.  In particular, we want the
+   * Windows backend to catch the SET_THREAD_NAME exceptions of newly
+   * created threads.
+   */
+  gimp_backtrace_init ();
+
   /* Language needs to be determined first, before any GimpContext is
    * instantiated (which happens when the Gimp object is created)
    * because its properties need to be properly localized in the
diff --git a/app/core/gimpbacktrace-linux.c b/app/core/gimpbacktrace-linux.c
index ea73b2bde3..9e4f38d12b 100644
--- a/app/core/gimpbacktrace-linux.c
+++ b/app/core/gimpbacktrace-linux.c
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 
 #include "config.h"
 
+#include <gio/gio.h>
+
 #include "gimpbacktrace-backend.h"
 
 
@@ -46,8 +48,6 @@
 #include <libunwind.h>
 #endif
 
-#include <gio/gio.h>
-
 #include "core-types.h"
 
 #include "gimpbacktrace.h"
@@ -237,8 +237,13 @@ gimp_backtrace_signal_handler (gint signum)
 /*  public functions  */
 
 
-gboolean
+void
 gimp_backtrace_init (void)
+{
+}
+
+gboolean
+gimp_backtrace_start (void)
 {
   g_mutex_lock (&mutex);
 
@@ -294,7 +299,7 @@ gimp_backtrace_init (void)
 }
 
 void
-gimp_backtrace_shutdown (void)
+gimp_backtrace_stop (void)
 {
   g_return_if_fail (n_initializations > 0);
 
diff --git a/app/core/gimpbacktrace-none.c b/app/core/gimpbacktrace-none.c
index c2c9d758ee..489a63c7fe 100644
--- a/app/core/gimpbacktrace-none.c
+++ b/app/core/gimpbacktrace-none.c
@@ -21,16 +21,14 @@
 
 #include "config.h"
 
+#include <gio/gio.h>
+
 #include "gimpbacktrace-backend.h"
 
 
 #ifdef GIMP_BACKTRACE_BACKEND_NONE
 
 
-#include "config.h"
-
-#include <gio/gio.h>
-
 #include "core-types.h"
 
 #include "gimpbacktrace.h"
@@ -39,14 +37,19 @@
 /*  public functions  */
 
 
-gboolean
+void
 gimp_backtrace_init (void)
+{
+}
+
+gboolean
+gimp_backtrace_start (void)
 {
   return FALSE;
 }
 
 void
-gimp_backtrace_shutdown (void)
+gimp_backtrace_stop (void)
 {
 }
 
diff --git a/app/core/gimpbacktrace.h b/app/core/gimpbacktrace.h
index 64c7bc3519..ea676a2db5 100644
--- a/app/core/gimpbacktrace.h
+++ b/app/core/gimpbacktrace.h
@@ -28,13 +28,16 @@ typedef struct _GimpBacktraceAddressInfo GimpBacktraceAddressInfo;
 struct _GimpBacktraceAddressInfo
 {
   gchar    object_name[256];
+
   gchar    symbol_name[256];
   guintptr symbol_address;
 };
 
 
-gboolean        gimp_backtrace_init              (void);
-void            gimp_backtrace_shutdown          (void);
+void            gimp_backtrace_init              (void);
+
+gboolean        gimp_backtrace_start             (void);
+void            gimp_backtrace_stop              (void);
 
 GimpBacktrace * gimp_backtrace_new               (gboolean                 include_current_thread);
 void            gimp_backtrace_free              (GimpBacktrace           *backtrace);
diff --git a/app/widgets/gimpdashboard.c b/app/widgets/gimpdashboard.c
index d100d797a8..7c3c90211c 100644
--- a/app/widgets/gimpdashboard.c
+++ b/app/widgets/gimpdashboard.c
@@ -4120,7 +4120,7 @@ gimp_dashboard_log_start_recording (GimpDashboard  *dashboard,
     priv->log_include_backtrace = FALSE;
 
   if (priv->log_include_backtrace)
-    has_backtrace = gimp_backtrace_init ();
+    has_backtrace = gimp_backtrace_start ();
   else
     has_backtrace = FALSE;
 
@@ -4188,7 +4188,7 @@ gimp_dashboard_log_start_recording (GimpDashboard  *dashboard,
 
   if (priv->log_error)
     {
-      gimp_backtrace_shutdown ();
+      gimp_backtrace_stop ();
 
       g_clear_object (&priv->log_output);
 
@@ -4238,9 +4238,6 @@ gimp_dashboard_log_stop_recording (GimpDashboard  *dashboard,
 
   g_mutex_lock (&priv->mutex);
 
-  if (priv->log_include_backtrace)
-    gimp_backtrace_shutdown ();
-
   gimp_dashboard_log_printf (dashboard,
                              "\n"
                              "</samples>\n");
@@ -4265,6 +4262,9 @@ gimp_dashboard_log_stop_recording (GimpDashboard  *dashboard,
                              "\n"
                              "</gimp-performance-log>\n");
 
+  if (priv->log_include_backtrace)
+    gimp_backtrace_stop ();
+
   if (! priv->log_error)
     g_output_stream_close (priv->log_output, NULL, &priv->log_error);