diff --git a/include/wx/msw/private/webview_edge.h b/include/wx/msw/private/webview_edge.h
index 2ebc5a468b..765127e9ed 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/private/webview_edge.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/private/webview_edge.h
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ public:
 
     ICoreWebView2Settings* GetSettings();
 
-    static int ms_isAvailable;
+    static bool ms_isInitialized;
     static wxDynamicLibrary ms_loaderDll;
 
     static bool Initialize();
diff --git a/include/wx/msw/webview_edge.h b/include/wx/msw/webview_edge.h
index 4b5b4aa410..dbdbfc5678 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/webview_edge.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/webview_edge.h
@@ -122,10 +122,6 @@ public:
 
     virtual void* GetNativeBackend() const wxOVERRIDE;
 
-    // ---- Edge-specific methods
-
-    static bool IsAvailable();
-
 protected:
     virtual void DoSetPage(const wxString& html, const wxString& baseUrl) wxOVERRIDE;
 
@@ -155,6 +151,7 @@ public:
     {
         return new wxWebViewEdge(parent, id, url, pos, size, style, name);
     }
+    virtual bool IsAvailable() wxOVERRIDE;
 };
 
 #endif // wxUSE_WEBVIEW && wxUSE_WEBVIEW_EDGE && defined(__WXMSW__)
diff --git a/include/wx/webview.h b/include/wx/webview.h
index 53c78122c2..63ca8199a4 100644
--- a/include/wx/webview.h
+++ b/include/wx/webview.h
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ public:
                               const wxSize& size = wxDefaultSize,
                               long style = 0,
                               const wxString& name = wxASCII_STR(wxWebViewNameStr)) = 0;
+    virtual bool IsAvailable() { return true; }
 };
 
 WX_DECLARE_STRING_HASH_MAP(wxSharedPtr<wxWebViewFactory>, wxStringWebViewFactoryMap);
diff --git a/interface/wx/webview.h b/interface/wx/webview.h
index 9011577fbd..a1d1ce04e3 100644
--- a/interface/wx/webview.h
+++ b/interface/wx/webview.h
@@ -220,6 +220,17 @@ public:
                               const wxSize& size = wxDefaultSize,
                               long style = 0,
                               const wxString& name = wxWebViewNameStr) = 0;
+    /**
+        Function to check if the backend is available at runtime. The
+        wxWebView implementation can use this function to check all
+        runtime requirements without trying to create a wxWebView.
+
+        @return returns @true if the backend can be used or @false if it is
+            not available during runtime.
+
+        @since 3.1.5
+    */
+    virtual bool IsAvailable();
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/common/webview.cpp b/src/common/webview.cpp
index ad44a43559..348a2ad75e 100644
--- a/src/common/webview.cpp
+++ b/src/common/webview.cpp
@@ -88,7 +88,10 @@ void wxWebView::RegisterFactory(const wxString& backend,
 bool wxWebView::IsBackendAvailable(const wxString& backend)
 {
     wxStringWebViewFactoryMap::iterator iter = FindFactory(backend);
-    return iter != m_factoryMap.end();
+    if (iter != m_factoryMap.end())
+        return iter->second->IsAvailable();
+    else
+        return false;
 }
 
 // static 
@@ -111,8 +114,7 @@ void wxWebView::InitFactoryMap()
 #endif
 
 #if wxUSE_WEBVIEW_EDGE
-    if (wxWebViewEdge::IsAvailable() &&
-        m_factoryMap.find(wxWebViewBackendEdge) == m_factoryMap.end())
+    if (m_factoryMap.find(wxWebViewBackendEdge) == m_factoryMap.end())
         RegisterFactory(wxWebViewBackendEdge, wxSharedPtr<wxWebViewFactory>
         (new wxWebViewFactoryEdge));
 #endif
diff --git a/src/msw/webview_edge.cpp b/src/msw/webview_edge.cpp
index 6dc1fd3957..2dba6fffb1 100644
--- a/src/msw/webview_edge.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/webview_edge.cpp
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ typedef HRESULT(__stdcall *GetAvailableCoreWebView2BrowserVersionString_t)(
 CreateCoreWebView2EnvironmentWithOptions_t wxCreateCoreWebView2EnvironmentWithOptions = NULL;
 GetAvailableCoreWebView2BrowserVersionString_t wxGetAvailableCoreWebView2BrowserVersionString = NULL;
 
-int wxWebViewEdgeImpl::ms_isAvailable = -1;
+bool wxWebViewEdgeImpl::ms_isInitialized = false;
 wxDynamicLibrary wxWebViewEdgeImpl::ms_loaderDll;
 
 wxWebViewEdgeImpl::wxWebViewEdgeImpl(wxWebViewEdge* webview):
@@ -113,6 +113,9 @@ HRESULT wxWebViewEdgeImpl::OnEnvironmentCreated(
 
 bool wxWebViewEdgeImpl::Initialize()
 {
+    if (ms_isInitialized)
+        return true;
+
     if (!ms_loaderDll.Load("WebView2Loader.dll", wxDL_DEFAULT | wxDL_QUIET))
         return false;
 
@@ -126,7 +129,10 @@ bool wxWebViewEdgeImpl::Initialize()
     wxCoTaskMemPtr<wchar_t> versionStr;
     HRESULT hr = wxGetAvailableCoreWebView2BrowserVersionString(NULL, &versionStr);
     if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && versionStr)
+    {
+        ms_isInitialized = true;
         return true;
+    }
     else
         wxLogApiError("GetCoreWebView2BrowserVersionInfo", hr);
 
@@ -135,10 +141,10 @@ bool wxWebViewEdgeImpl::Initialize()
 
 void wxWebViewEdgeImpl::Uninitialize()
 {
-    if (ms_isAvailable == 1)
+    if (ms_isInitialized)
     {
         ms_loaderDll.Unload();
-        ms_isAvailable = -1;
+        ms_isInitialized = false;
     }
 }
 
@@ -349,19 +355,6 @@ ICoreWebView2Settings* wxWebViewEdgeImpl::GetSettings()
     return settings;
 }
 
-bool wxWebViewEdge::IsAvailable()
-{
-    if (wxWebViewEdgeImpl::ms_isAvailable == -1)
-    {
-        if (!wxWebViewEdgeImpl::Initialize())
-            wxWebViewEdgeImpl::ms_isAvailable = 0;
-        else
-            wxWebViewEdgeImpl::ms_isAvailable = 1;
-    }
-
-    return wxWebViewEdgeImpl::ms_isAvailable == 1;
-}
-
 wxWebViewEdge::~wxWebViewEdge()
 {
     Unbind(wxEVT_SHOW, &wxWebViewEdge::OnShow, this);
@@ -376,7 +369,7 @@ bool wxWebViewEdge::Create(wxWindow* parent,
     long style,
     const wxString& name)
 {
-    if (!IsAvailable())
+    if (!wxWebViewEdgeImpl::Initialize())
         return false;
 
     if (!wxControl::Create(parent, id, pos, size, style,
@@ -869,6 +862,14 @@ void wxWebViewEdge::DoSetPage(const wxString& html, const wxString& WXUNUSED(bas
         m_impl->m_webView->NavigateToString(html.wc_str());
 }
 
+// wxWebViewFactoryEdge
+
+bool wxWebViewFactoryEdge::IsAvailable()
+{
+    return wxWebViewEdgeImpl::Initialize();
+}
+
+
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Module ensuring all global/singleton objects are destroyed on shutdown.
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------