diff --git a/include/wx/msw/menuitem.h b/include/wx/msw/menuitem.h
index 1fe684971b..fb6ef62e5e 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/menuitem.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/menuitem.h
@@ -119,7 +119,16 @@ private:
     // helper function for draw std menu check mark
     void DrawStdCheckMark(WXHDC hdc, const tagRECT* rc, wxODStatus stat);
 
-#endif // wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN
+#else // !wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN
+    // Provide stubs for the public functions above to ensure that the code
+    // still compiles without wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN -- it makes sense to just drop
+    // the bitmaps then instead of failing compilation.
+    void SetBitmaps(const wxBitmap& WXUNUSED(bmpChecked),
+                    const wxBitmap& WXUNUSED(bmpUnchecked) = wxNullBitmap) { }
+    void SetBitmap(const wxBitmap& WXUNUSED(bmp),
+                   bool WXUNUSED(bChecked) = true) { }
+    const wxBitmap& GetBitmap() const { return wxNullBitmap; }
+#endif // wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN/!wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN
 
 private:
     // common part of all ctors
diff --git a/samples/menu/menu.cpp b/samples/menu/menu.cpp
index 3d65f8c4e4..3c8f97df67 100644
--- a/samples/menu/menu.cpp
+++ b/samples/menu/menu.cpp
@@ -466,9 +466,7 @@ MyFrame::MyFrame()
 #if USE_LOG_WINDOW
     wxMenuItem *item = new wxMenuItem(fileMenu, Menu_File_ClearLog,
                                       wxT("Clear &log\tCtrl-L"));
-#if wxUSE_OWNER_DRAWN || defined(__WXGTK__)
     item->SetBitmap(copy_xpm);
-#endif
     fileMenu->Append(item);
     fileMenu->AppendSeparator();
 #endif // USE_LOG_WINDOW