diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_common.cpp b/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_common.cpp
index f7c31257d..77b6207e4 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_common.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_common.cpp
@@ -711,8 +711,10 @@ void DoVendorChecks(GLPlatform &platform, GLWindowingData context)
 
     if(child.ctx)
     {
+      GLWindowingData saved;
+
       // switch to child
-      platform.MakeContextCurrent(child);
+      platform.PushChildContext(context, child, &saved);
 
       // these shouldn't be visible
       VendorCheck[VendorCheck_EXT_fbo_shared] = (GL.glIsFramebuffer(fbo) != GL_FALSE);
@@ -724,7 +726,7 @@ void DoVendorChecks(GLPlatform &platform, GLWindowingData context)
         RDCWARN("VAOs are shared on this implementation");
 
       // switch back to context
-      platform.MakeContextCurrent(context);
+      platform.PopChildContext(context, child, saved);
 
       platform.DeleteClonedContext(child);
     }
diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_common.h b/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_common.h
index 83f9a5b38..664218fc0 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_common.h
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_common.h
@@ -274,6 +274,20 @@ struct GLPlatform
   virtual GLWindowingData MakeOutputWindow(WindowingData window, bool depth,
                                            GLWindowingData share_context) = 0;
 
+  // for pushing and popping a child context. The default implementation just does
+  // MakeContextCurrent but platforms can override this if they need more complex state handling
+  virtual bool PushChildContext(GLWindowingData existing, GLWindowingData newChild,
+                                GLWindowingData *saved)
+  {
+    bool success = MakeContextCurrent(newChild);
+    *saved = existing;
+    return success;
+  }
+  virtual void PopChildContext(GLWindowingData existing, GLWindowingData newChild,
+                               GLWindowingData saved)
+  {
+    MakeContextCurrent(saved);
+  }
   // for 'backwards compatible' overlay rendering
   virtual void DrawQuads(float width, float height, const rdcarray<Vec4f> &vertices) = 0;
 
diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_initstate.cpp b/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_initstate.cpp
index bf00a74d9..1fac198a6 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_initstate.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_initstate.cpp
@@ -567,7 +567,9 @@ bool GLResourceManager::Prepare_InitialState(GLResource res)
 
     ContextShareGroup *shareGroup = (ContextShareGroup *)res.ContextShareGroup;
 
-    if(m_Driver->m_Platform.MakeContextCurrent(shareGroup->m_BackDoor))
+    GLWindowingData savedContext;
+
+    if(m_Driver->m_Platform.PushChildContext(oldContextData, shareGroup->m_BackDoor, &savedContext))
     {
       m_Driver->m_ActiveContexts[Threading::GetCurrentID()] = shareGroup->m_BackDoor;
 
@@ -575,7 +577,7 @@ bool GLResourceManager::Prepare_InitialState(GLResource res)
 
       // restore the context
       m_Driver->m_ActiveContexts[Threading::GetCurrentID()] = oldContextData;
-      m_Driver->m_Platform.MakeContextCurrent(oldContextData);
+      m_Driver->m_Platform.PopChildContext(oldContextData, shareGroup->m_BackDoor, savedContext);
     }
   }
   else
@@ -1807,7 +1809,7 @@ bool GLResourceManager::Serialise_InitialState(WriteSerialiser &ser, ResourceId
                                                GLResourceRecord *record,
                                                const GLInitialContents *initial)
 {
-  GLResource res = GetCurrentResource(id);
+  GLResource res = record->Resource;
 
   if(IsResourceTrackedForPersistency(res))
   {
@@ -1815,7 +1817,9 @@ bool GLResourceManager::Serialise_InitialState(WriteSerialiser &ser, ResourceId
 
     GLWindowingData backdoor = ((ContextShareGroup *)res.ContextShareGroup)->m_BackDoor;
 
-    if(m_Driver->m_Platform.MakeContextCurrent(backdoor))
+    GLWindowingData savedContext;
+
+    if(m_Driver->m_Platform.PushChildContext(oldContextData, backdoor, &savedContext))
     {
       m_Driver->m_ActiveContexts[Threading::GetCurrentID()] = backdoor;
 
@@ -1824,7 +1828,7 @@ bool GLResourceManager::Serialise_InitialState(WriteSerialiser &ser, ResourceId
       // restore the context
       m_Driver->m_ActiveContexts[Threading::GetCurrentID()] = oldContextData;
 
-      m_Driver->m_Platform.MakeContextCurrent(oldContextData);
+      m_Driver->m_Platform.PopChildContext(oldContextData, backdoor, savedContext);
 
       return success;
     }
diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_manager.cpp b/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_manager.cpp
index be6a025bb..ee95ab6bd 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_manager.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/gl/gl_manager.cpp
@@ -145,12 +145,18 @@ bool GLResourceManager::ResourceTypeRelease(GLResource res)
     {
       ContextShareGroup *contextShareGroup = (ContextShareGroup *)res.ContextShareGroup;
 
-      if(m_Driver->m_Platform.MakeContextCurrent(contextShareGroup->m_BackDoor))
+      GLWindowingData oldContextData = m_Driver->m_ActiveContexts[Threading::GetCurrentID()];
+
+      GLWindowingData savedContext;
+
+      if(m_Driver->m_Platform.PushChildContext(oldContextData, contextShareGroup->m_BackDoor,
+                                               &savedContext))
       {
         m_Driver->ReleaseResource(res);
 
         // restore the context
-        m_Driver->m_Platform.MakeContextCurrent(m_Driver->m_ActiveContexts[Threading::GetCurrentID()]);
+        m_Driver->m_Platform.PopChildContext(oldContextData, contextShareGroup->m_BackDoor,
+                                             savedContext);
       }
       else
       {
diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/gl/wgl_platform.cpp b/renderdoc/driver/gl/wgl_platform.cpp
index 885f01411..2aa6e9cd1 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/gl/wgl_platform.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/gl/wgl_platform.cpp
@@ -37,6 +37,41 @@ class WGLPlatform : public GLPlatform
     return false;
   }
 
+  // pushing/popping contexts is complex on windows due to the really awful rules for DC lifetimes.
+  // Changing to the child context is easy, but getting back to where we started is hard. The
+  // 'current' DC may no longer be valid, as it may have been released in the meantime (while
+  // rendering is still A-OK). We check that the window behind the DC is valid, stored the 'wnd'
+  // member. If that window is valid then we use GetDC() to get a temporary DC and bind that,
+  // assuming all will be well. If the window isn't valid then we can't get a valid DC so we can't
+  // rebind the context exactly as it was, however we assume that rendering to that setup was broken
+  // (because the bound DC wasn't pointing to a valid window) so instead we just bind the old
+  // context but with our DC.
+
+  virtual bool PushChildContext(GLWindowingData existing, GLWindowingData newChild,
+                                GLWindowingData *saved)
+  {
+    bool success = MakeContextCurrent(newChild);
+    *saved = existing;
+    if(::IsWindow(existing.wnd))
+    {
+      saved->DC = GetDC(existing.wnd);
+    }
+    else
+    {
+      saved->wnd = newChild.wnd;
+      saved->DC = newChild.DC;
+    }
+
+    return success;
+  }
+  virtual void PopChildContext(GLWindowingData existing, GLWindowingData newChild,
+                               GLWindowingData saved)
+  {
+    MakeContextCurrent(saved);
+    // release the DC now, if we didn't use our own because theirs was invalid
+    if(saved.DC != newChild.DC)
+      ::ReleaseDC(saved.wnd, saved.DC);
+  }
   GLWindowingData CloneTemporaryContext(GLWindowingData share)
   {
     GLWindowingData ret = share;