diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tix.py b/Lib/test/test_tix.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e6ea3d07444
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tix.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import unittest
+from test import support
+import sys
+
+# Skip this test if the _tkinter module wasn't built.
+_tkinter = support.import_module('_tkinter')
+
+# Skip test if tk cannot be initialized.
+support.requires('gui')
+
+from tkinter import tix, TclError
+
+
+class TestTix(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        try:
+            self.root = tix.Tk()
+        except TclError:
+            if sys.platform.startswith('win'):
+                self.fail('Tix should always be available on Windows')
+            self.skipTest('Tix not available')
+        else:
+            self.addCleanup(self.root.destroy)
+
+    def test_tix_available(self):
+        # this test is just here to make setUp run
+        pass
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()