diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9366a7724..a2cc0fc0b 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1321,6 +1321,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "image",
  "js-sys",
  "percent-encoding",
+ "pollster",
  "puffin",
  "raw-window-handle 0.5.0",
  "ron",
@@ -1356,7 +1357,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "bytemuck",
  "document-features",
  "egui",
- "pollster",
  "puffin",
  "tracing",
  "type-map",
diff --git a/crates/eframe/Cargo.toml b/crates/eframe/Cargo.toml
index e4a25b90f..ef528e40b 100644
--- a/crates/eframe/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/eframe/Cargo.toml
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ __screenshot = ["dep:image"]
 
 ## Use [`wgpu`](https://docs.rs/wgpu) for painting (via [`egui-wgpu`](https://github.com/emilk/egui/tree/master/crates/egui-wgpu)).
 ## This overrides the `glow` feature.
-wgpu = ["dep:wgpu", "dep:egui-wgpu"]
+wgpu = ["dep:wgpu", "dep:egui-wgpu", "dep:pollster"]
 
 
 [dependencies]
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ directories-next = { version = "2", optional = true }
 egui-wgpu = { version = "0.20.0", path = "../egui-wgpu", optional = true, features = [
   "winit",
 ] } # if wgpu is used, use it with winit
+pollster = { version = "0.2", optional = true } # needed for wgpu
 
 # we can expose these to user so that they can select which backends they want to enable to avoid compiling useless deps.
 # this can be done at the same time we expose x11/wayland features of winit crate.
diff --git a/crates/eframe/src/native/run.rs b/crates/eframe/src/native/run.rs
index a25ed4edd..865d8825f 100644
--- a/crates/eframe/src/native/run.rs
+++ b/crates/eframe/src/native/run.rs
@@ -950,7 +950,7 @@ mod wgpu_integration {
             self.window = Some(window);
             if let Some(running) = &mut self.running {
                 unsafe {
-                    running.painter.set_window(self.window.as_ref())?;
+                    pollster::block_on(running.painter.set_window(self.window.as_ref()))?;
                 }
             }
             Ok(())
@@ -962,7 +962,7 @@ mod wgpu_integration {
             self.window = None;
             if let Some(running) = &mut self.running {
                 unsafe {
-                    running.painter.set_window(None)?;
+                    pollster::block_on(running.painter.set_window(None))?;
                 }
             }
             Ok(())
@@ -981,7 +981,7 @@ mod wgpu_integration {
                     self.native_options.multisampling.max(1) as _,
                     self.native_options.depth_buffer,
                 );
-                painter.set_window(Some(&window))?;
+                pollster::block_on(painter.set_window(Some(&window)))?;
                 painter
             };
 
diff --git a/crates/egui-wgpu/CHANGELOG.md b/crates/egui-wgpu/CHANGELOG.md
index 6fc0bc286..01c122fc3 100644
--- a/crates/egui-wgpu/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/crates/egui-wgpu/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ All notable changes to the `egui-wgpu` integration will be noted in this file.
 
 ## Unreleased
 * Return `Err` instead of panic if we can't find a device ([#2428](https://github.com/emilk/egui/pull/2428)).
+* `winit::Painter::set_window` is now `async` ([#2434](https://github.com/emilk/egui/pull/2434)).
 
 
 ## 0.20.0 - 2022-12-08 - web support
diff --git a/crates/egui-wgpu/Cargo.toml b/crates/egui-wgpu/Cargo.toml
index 8f663c6d5..7f5afaf5a 100644
--- a/crates/egui-wgpu/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/egui-wgpu/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ all-features = true
 puffin = ["dep:puffin"]
 
 ## Enable [`winit`](https://docs.rs/winit) integration.
-winit = ["dep:pollster", "dep:winit"]
+winit = ["dep:winit"]
 
 
 [dependencies]
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ wgpu = "0.14"
 ## Enable this when generating docs.
 document-features = { version = "0.2", optional = true }
 
-pollster = { version = "0.2", optional = true }
 winit = { version = "0.27.2", optional = true }
 
 # Native:
diff --git a/crates/egui-wgpu/src/winit.rs b/crates/egui-wgpu/src/winit.rs
index 064e0ca81..8154abe64 100644
--- a/crates/egui-wgpu/src/winit.rs
+++ b/crates/egui-wgpu/src/winit.rs
@@ -88,17 +88,19 @@ impl Painter {
     //
     // After we've initialized our render state once though we expect all future surfaces
     // will have the same format and so this render state will remain valid.
-    fn ensure_render_state_for_surface(
+    async fn ensure_render_state_for_surface(
         &mut self,
         surface: &Surface,
     ) -> Result<(), wgpu::RequestDeviceError> {
         if self.adapter.is_none() {
-            self.adapter =
-                pollster::block_on(self.instance.request_adapter(&wgpu::RequestAdapterOptions {
+            self.adapter = self
+                .instance
+                .request_adapter(&wgpu::RequestAdapterOptions {
                     power_preference: self.configuration.power_preference,
                     compatible_surface: Some(surface),
                     force_fallback_adapter: false,
-                }));
+                })
+                .await;
         }
         if self.render_state.is_none() {
             match &self.adapter {
@@ -106,7 +108,7 @@ impl Painter {
                     let swapchain_format = crate::preferred_framebuffer_format(
                         &surface.get_supported_formats(adapter),
                     );
-                    let rs = pollster::block_on(self.init_render_state(adapter, swapchain_format))?;
+                    let rs = self.init_render_state(adapter, swapchain_format).await?;
                     self.render_state = Some(rs);
                 }
                 None => return Err(wgpu::RequestDeviceError {}),
@@ -171,7 +173,7 @@ impl Painter {
     ///
     /// # Errors
     /// If the provided wgpu configuration does not match an available device.
-    pub unsafe fn set_window(
+    pub async unsafe fn set_window(
         &mut self,
         window: Option<&winit::window::Window>,
     ) -> Result<(), wgpu::RequestDeviceError> {
@@ -179,7 +181,7 @@ impl Painter {
             Some(window) => {
                 let surface = self.instance.create_surface(&window);
 
-                self.ensure_render_state_for_surface(&surface)?;
+                self.ensure_render_state_for_surface(&surface).await?;
 
                 let size = window.inner_size();
                 let width = size.width;