diff --git a/Lib/locale.py b/Lib/locale.py
index 163b0440e65..1536bb594b8 100644
--- a/Lib/locale.py
+++ b/Lib/locale.py
@@ -546,7 +546,10 @@ def getpreferredencoding(do_setlocale = True):
             according to the system configuration."""
             if do_setlocale:
                 oldloc = setlocale(LC_CTYPE)
-                setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "")
+                try:
+                    setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "")
+                except:
+                    pass
                 result = nl_langinfo(CODESET)
                 setlocale(LC_CTYPE, oldloc)
                 return result