diff --git a/dlls/kernel32/tests/loader.c b/dlls/kernel32/tests/loader.c
index 01c7cfa8a91..23dfc93d740 100644
--- a/dlls/kernel32/tests/loader.c
+++ b/dlls/kernel32/tests/loader.c
@@ -522,13 +522,14 @@ static NTSTATUS map_image_section( const IMAGE_NT_HEADERS *nt_header, const IMAG
             mod = LoadLibraryExA( dll_name, 0, DONT_RESOLVE_DLL_REFERENCES );
             if (!has_code && nt_header->OptionalHeader.Magic == IMAGE_NT_OPTIONAL_HDR32_MAGIC)
             {
-                BOOL il_only = FALSE;
+                BOOL il_only = FALSE, want_32bit = FALSE;
                 if (((const IMAGE_NT_HEADERS32 *)nt_header)->OptionalHeader.DataDirectory[IMAGE_DIRECTORY_ENTRY_COM_DESCRIPTOR].VirtualAddress)
                 {
                     const IMAGE_COR20_HEADER *cor_header = section_data;
                     il_only = (cor_header->Flags & COMIMAGE_FLAGS_ILONLY) != 0;
+                    if (il_only) want_32bit = (cor_header->Flags & COMIMAGE_FLAGS_32BITREQUIRED) != 0;
                 }
-                ok( mod != NULL || broken(il_only), /* <= win7 */
+                ok( mod != NULL || want_32bit || broken(il_only), /* <= win7 */
                     "%u: loading failed err %u\n", line, GetLastError() );
             }
             else
diff --git a/dlls/ntdll/loader.c b/dlls/ntdll/loader.c
index ecc09d33cf6..a47dfe0aa1a 100644
--- a/dlls/ntdll/loader.c
+++ b/dlls/ntdll/loader.c
@@ -1989,7 +1989,14 @@ static BOOL is_valid_binary( HMODULE module, const pe_image_info_t *info )
     if (info->machine == IMAGE_FILE_MACHINE_ARM64) return TRUE;
 #endif
     if (!info->contains_code) return TRUE;
-    if (!(info->image_flags & IMAGE_FLAGS_ComPlusNativeReady)) return FALSE;
+    if (!(info->image_flags & IMAGE_FLAGS_ComPlusNativeReady))
+    {
+        /* check COM header directly, ignoring runtime version */
+        DWORD size;
+        const IMAGE_COR20_HEADER *cor_header = RtlImageDirectoryEntryToData( module, TRUE,
+                                                          IMAGE_DIRECTORY_ENTRY_COM_DESCRIPTOR, &size );
+        if (!cor_header || !(cor_header->Flags & COMIMAGE_FLAGS_ILONLY)) return FALSE;
+    }
     return convert_to_pe64( module, info );
 #else
     return FALSE;  /* no wow64 support on other platforms */