diff --git a/include/spdlog/sinks/stdout_sinks-inl.h b/include/spdlog/sinks/stdout_sinks-inl.h
index e5aacd5b..83cb1f4d 100644
--- a/include/spdlog/sinks/stdout_sinks-inl.h
+++ b/include/spdlog/sinks/stdout_sinks-inl.h
@@ -49,7 +49,11 @@ SPDLOG_INLINE void stdout_sink_base<ConsoleMutex>::log(const details::log_msg &m
 #ifdef _WIN32
     auto size = static_cast<DWORD>(formatted.size());
     DWORD bytes_written = 0;
-    ::WriteFile(handle_, formatted.data(), size, &bytes_written, nullptr);
+    bool ok = ::WriteFile(handle_, formatted.data(), size, &bytes_written, nullptr) != 0;
+    if (!ok)
+    {
+        throw_spdlog_ex("stdout_sink_base: WriteFile() failed. GetLastError(): " + std::to_string(::GetLastError()));
+    }
 #else
     ::fwrite(formatted.data(), sizeof(char), formatted.size(), file_);
     ::fflush(file_); // flush every line to terminal
diff --git a/include/spdlog/sinks/wincolor_sink-inl.h b/include/spdlog/sinks/wincolor_sink-inl.h
index 1551c902..587720ac 100644
--- a/include/spdlog/sinks/wincolor_sink-inl.h
+++ b/include/spdlog/sinks/wincolor_sink-inl.h
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ void SPDLOG_INLINE wincolor_sink<ConsoleMutex>::write_to_file_(const memory_buf_
     bool ok = ::WriteFile(out_handle_, formatted.data(), size, &bytes_written, nullptr) != 0;
     if (!ok)
     {
-        throw_spdlog_ex("wincolor_sink: write_to_file_ failed. GetLastError(): " + std::to_string(::GetLastError()));
+        throw_spdlog_ex("wincolor_sink: ::WriteFile() failed. GetLastError(): " + std::to_string(::GetLastError()));
     }
 }