diff --git a/glib/gthread-win32.c b/glib/gthread-win32.c
index 89df0daa0..9cbe2bcfb 100644
--- a/glib/gthread-win32.c
+++ b/glib/gthread-win32.c
@@ -439,9 +439,13 @@ g_system_thread_new (GThreadFunc   proxy,
   GThreadWin32 *thread;
   GRealThread *base_thread;
   guint ignore;
+  const gchar *message = NULL;
+  HANDLE current_thread;
+  int current_prio;
 
   thread = g_slice_new0 (GThreadWin32);
   thread->proxy = proxy;
+  thread->handle = (HANDLE) NULL;
   base_thread = (GRealThread*)thread;
   base_thread->ref_count = 2;
   base_thread->ours = TRUE;
@@ -450,19 +454,57 @@ g_system_thread_new (GThreadFunc   proxy,
   base_thread->thread.data = data;
   base_thread->name = g_strdup (name);
 
-  thread->handle = (HANDLE) _beginthreadex (NULL, stack_size, g_thread_win32_proxy, thread, 0, &ignore);
+  thread->handle = (HANDLE) _beginthreadex (NULL, stack_size, g_thread_win32_proxy, thread,
+                                            CREATE_SUSPENDED, &ignore);
 
   if (thread->handle == NULL)
     {
-      gchar *win_error = g_win32_error_message (GetLastError ());
-      g_set_error (error, G_THREAD_ERROR, G_THREAD_ERROR_AGAIN,
-                   "Error creating thread: %s", win_error);
-      g_free (win_error);
-      g_slice_free (GThreadWin32, thread);
-      return NULL;
+      message = "Error creating thread";
+      goto error;
+    }
+
+  /* For thread priority inheritance we need to manually set the thread
+   * priority of the new thread to the priority of the current thread. We
+   * also have to start the thread suspended and resume it after actually
+   * setting the priority here.
+   *
+   * On Windows, by default all new threads are created with NORMAL thread
+   * priority.
+   */
+
+  current_thread = GetCurrentThread ();
+  current_prio = GetThreadPriority (current_thread);
+  if (current_prio == THREAD_PRIORITY_ERROR_RETURN)
+    {
+      message = "Error getting current thread priority";
+      goto error;
+    }
+
+  if (SetThreadPriority (thread->handle, current_prio) == 0)
+    {
+      message = "Error setting new thread priority";
+      goto error;
+    }
+
+  if (ResumeThread (thread->handle) == -1)
+    {
+      message = "Error resuming new thread";
+      goto error;
     }
 
   return (GRealThread *) thread;
+
+error:
+  {
+    gchar *win_error = g_win32_error_message (GetLastError ());
+    g_set_error (error, G_THREAD_ERROR, G_THREAD_ERROR_AGAIN,
+                 "%s: %s", message, win_error);
+    g_free (win_error);
+    if (thread->handle)
+      CloseHandle (thread->handle);
+    g_slice_free (GThreadWin32, thread);
+    return NULL;
+  }
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/glib/gthread.c b/glib/gthread.c
index f8989009a..919b3adf5 100644
--- a/glib/gthread.c
+++ b/glib/gthread.c
@@ -833,6 +833,14 @@ g_thread_proxy (gpointer data)
  * To free the struct returned by this function, use g_thread_unref().
  * Note that g_thread_join() implicitly unrefs the #GThread as well.
  *
+ * New threads by default inherit their scheduler policy (POSIX) or thread
+ * priority (Windows) of the thread creating the new thread.
+ *
+ * This behaviour changed in GLib 2.64: before threads on Windows were not
+ * inheriting the thread priority but were spawned with the default priority.
+ * Starting with GLib 2.64 the behaviour is now consistent between Windows and
+ * POSIX and all threads inherit their parent thread's priority.
+ *
  * Returns: the new #GThread
  *
  * Since: 2.32