diff --git a/src/TorchSharp/Tensor/Factories/Tensor.Factories.cs b/src/TorchSharp/Tensor/Factories/Tensor.Factories.cs
index b306c0cd7..df758de80 100644
--- a/src/TorchSharp/Tensor/Factories/Tensor.Factories.cs
+++ b/src/TorchSharp/Tensor/Factories/Tensor.Factories.cs
@@ -647,7 +647,10 @@ private static void ValidateIntegerRange(long value, ScalarType dtype, string ar
         static torch()
         {
             deleters = new ConcurrentDictionary<TorchSharp.PInvoke.GCHandleDeleter, TorchSharp.PInvoke.GCHandleDeleter>();
-            TryInitializeDeviceType(DeviceType.CUDA);
+            if (!TryInitializeDeviceType(DeviceType.CUDA)) {
+                // CUDA not available, ensure CPU backend is loaded
+                LoadNativeBackend(false, out _);
+            }
         }
         #endregion
     }
diff --git a/src/TorchSharp/Torch.cs b/src/TorchSharp/Torch.cs
index dd7a07689..e0daf0bd7 100644
--- a/src/TorchSharp/Torch.cs
+++ b/src/TorchSharp/Torch.cs
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ private static void LoadNativeBackend(bool useCudaBackend, out StringBuilder? tr
             trace = null;
 
             if (!alreadyLoaded) {
-                bool ok;
+                bool ok = true;
                 trace = new StringBuilder();
                 trace.AppendLine($"");
                 trace.AppendLine($"TorchSharp: LoadNativeBackend: Initialising native backend, useCudaBackend = {useCudaBackend}");
@@ -134,30 +134,32 @@ private static void LoadNativeBackend(bool useCudaBackend, out StringBuilder? tr
                         // Preloading these DLLs on windows seems to iron out problems where one native DLL
                         // requests a load of another through dynamic linking techniques.
                         //
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_adv64_9", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_cnn64_9", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_ops64_9", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_graph64_9.dll", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_heuristic64_9.dll", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_engines_precompiled64_9.dll", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_engines_runtime_compiled64_9.dll", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("nvrtc-builtins64_128", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("caffe2_nvrtc", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("nvrtc64_120_0", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cublasLt64_12", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cufft64_11", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cusparse64_12", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
-                        ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cusolver64_11", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        // These are optional preloads to help Windows resolve transitive native dependencies.
+                        // Failures here are non-fatal -- the critical loads are torch_cuda and LibTorchSharp below.
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_adv64_9", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_cnn64_9", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_ops64_9", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_graph64_9.dll", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_heuristic64_9.dll", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_engines_precompiled64_9.dll", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cudnn_engines_runtime_compiled64_9.dll", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("nvrtc-builtins64_128", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("caffe2_nvrtc", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("nvrtc64_120_0", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cublasLt64_12", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cufft64_11", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cusparse64_12", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                        TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("cusolver64_11", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
                     }
 
-                    ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("torch_cuda", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                    TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("torch_cuda", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
                     ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("LibTorchSharp", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
                 } else {
-                    ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("torch_cpu", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
+                    TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("torch_cpu", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
                     ok = TryLoadNativeLibraryByName("LibTorchSharp", typeof(torch).Assembly, trace);
                 }
 
-                trace.AppendLine($"    Result from regular native load of LibTorchSharp is {ok}");
+                trace.AppendLine($"    Result from regular native load of backend libraries (CUDA preloads + torch_* + LibTorchSharp) is {ok}");
 
                 // Try dynamic load from package directories
                 if (!ok) {
@@ -299,7 +301,12 @@ public static bool TryInitializeDeviceType(DeviceType deviceType)
                 return false;
             }
 
-            LoadNativeBackend(deviceType == DeviceType.CUDA, out _);
+            try {
+                LoadNativeBackend(deviceType == DeviceType.CUDA, out _);
+            } catch (NotSupportedException) {
+                return false;
+            }
+
             if (deviceType == DeviceType.CUDA) {
                 return cuda.CallTorchCudaIsAvailable();
             } else {