diff --git a/docs/changes.txt b/docs/changes.txt
index bb79b65387..d1769863ed 100644
--- a/docs/changes.txt
+++ b/docs/changes.txt
@@ -178,7 +178,9 @@ Changes in behaviour not resulting in compilation errors, please read this!
 - wxMSW-specific wxAutomationObject::GetInstance() method now creates a new
   instance if needed instead of failing if the application providing the
   requested ProgID is not running. Pass wxAutomationInstance_UseExistingOnly
-  flag to it to revert to the old behaviour.
+  flag to it to revert to the old behaviour. It is also possible to use the
+  wxAutomationInstance_SilentIfNone flag to prevent the error message if no
+  currently running instances of this object are available.
 
 
 Changes in behaviour which may result in compilation errors
diff --git a/include/wx/msw/ole/automtn.h b/include/wx/msw/ole/automtn.h
index 63b9414d29..beae01b33e 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/ole/automtn.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/ole/automtn.h
@@ -33,7 +33,11 @@ enum wxAutomationInstanceFlags
     wxAutomationInstance_UseExistingOnly = 0,
 
     // Create a new instance if there are no existing ones.
-    wxAutomationInstance_CreateIfNeeded = 1
+    wxAutomationInstance_CreateIfNeeded = 1,
+
+    // Do not log errors if we failed to get the existing instance because none
+    // is available.
+    wxAutomationInstance_SilentIfNone = 2
 };
 
 /*
diff --git a/interface/wx/msw/ole/automtn.h b/interface/wx/msw/ole/automtn.h
index c351d20e88..916bc1b80d 100644
--- a/interface/wx/msw/ole/automtn.h
+++ b/interface/wx/msw/ole/automtn.h
@@ -31,7 +31,15 @@ enum wxAutomationInstanceFlags
         instance failed, we should call wxAutomationObject::CreateInstance() to
         create a new one.
      */
-    wxAutomationInstance_CreateIfNeeded = 1
+    wxAutomationInstance_CreateIfNeeded = 1,
+
+    /**
+        Do not show an error message if no existing instance is currently
+        running.
+
+        All other errors will still be reported as usual.
+     */
+    wxAutomationInstance_SilentIfNone = 2
 };
 
 
@@ -134,6 +142,10 @@ public:
 
         If attaching to an existing object failed and @a flags includes
         wxAutomationInstance_CreateIfNeeded flag, a new object will be created.
+        Otherwise this function will normally log an error message which may be
+        undesirable if the object may or may not exist. The
+        wxAutomationInstance_SilentIfNone flag can be used to prevent the error
+        from being logged in this case.
 
         Returns @true if a pointer was successfully retrieved, @false
         otherwise.
diff --git a/src/msw/ole/automtn.cpp b/src/msw/ole/automtn.cpp
index dce44ebc5a..12a46ffcad 100644
--- a/src/msw/ole/automtn.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/ole/automtn.cpp
@@ -545,8 +545,15 @@ bool wxAutomationObject::GetInstance(const wxString& progId, int flags) const
         }
         else
         {
-            wxLogSysError(hr,
-                          _("Cannot get an active instance of \"%s\""), progId);
+            // Log an error except if we're supposed to fail silently when the
+            // error is that no current instance exists.
+            if ( hr != MK_E_UNAVAILABLE ||
+                    !(flags & wxAutomationInstance_SilentIfNone) )
+            {
+                wxLogSysError(hr,
+                              _("Cannot get an active instance of \"%s\""),
+                              progId);
+            }
         }
 
         return false;