diff --git a/src/osd/modules/debugger/debugwin.cpp b/src/osd/modules/debugger/debugwin.cpp
index 1ad713a967c9c..ab9416528e35f 100644
--- a/src/osd/modules/debugger/debugwin.cpp
+++ b/src/osd/modules/debugger/debugwin.cpp
@@ -206,23 +206,25 @@ void debugger_windows::wait_for_debugger(device_t &device, bool firststop)
 
 	// get and process messages
 	MSG message;
-	GetMessage(&message, nullptr, 0, 0);
 
-	switch (message.message)
+	if (PeekMessage(&message, nullptr, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE))
 	{
-	// check for F10 -- we need to capture that ourselves
-	case WM_SYSKEYDOWN:
-	case WM_SYSKEYUP:
-		if (message.wParam == VK_F4 && message.message == WM_SYSKEYDOWN)
-			SendMessage(GetAncestor(GetFocus(), GA_ROOT), WM_CLOSE, 0, 0);
-		if (message.wParam == VK_F10)
-			SendMessage(GetAncestor(GetFocus(), GA_ROOT), (message.message == WM_SYSKEYDOWN) ? WM_KEYDOWN : WM_KEYUP, message.wParam, message.lParam);
-		break;
-
-	// process everything else
-	default:
-		winwindow_dispatch_message(*m_machine, message);
-		break;
+		switch (message.message)
+		{
+			// check for F10 -- we need to capture that ourselves
+			case WM_SYSKEYDOWN:
+			case WM_SYSKEYUP:
+				if (message.wParam == VK_F4 && message.message == WM_SYSKEYDOWN)
+					SendMessage(GetAncestor(GetFocus(), GA_ROOT), WM_CLOSE, 0, 0);
+				if (message.wParam == VK_F10)
+					SendMessage(GetAncestor(GetFocus(), GA_ROOT), (message.message == WM_SYSKEYDOWN) ? WM_KEYDOWN : WM_KEYUP, message.wParam, message.lParam);
+				break;
+
+			// process everything else
+			default:
+				winwindow_dispatch_message(*m_machine, message);
+				break;
+		}
 	}
 
 	// mark the debugger as active