diff --git a/tests/tests.py b/tests/tests.py
index fb286922d..c1f1ba4c6 100644
--- a/tests/tests.py
+++ b/tests/tests.py
@@ -2634,6 +2634,28 @@ def test_wsgi_query_string_with_encodechars(self):
         expected = "query=Jane%26John&otherquery=B&test=hello%2Bm.te%26how%26are%26you"
         self.assertEqual(request["QUERY_STRING"], expected)
 
+    @mock.patch("subprocess.Popen")
+    def test_create_handler_venv_win32_none_stderror_result(self, popen_mock):
+        class PopenMock:
+            returncode = 999
+
+            @classmethod
+            def communicate(cls):
+                return "valid_stdout", None  # On win32, stderr can be None
+
+        popen_mock.return_value = PopenMock
+
+        boto_mock = mock.MagicMock()
+        zappa_core = Zappa(
+            boto_session=boto_mock,
+            profile_name="test",
+            aws_region="test",
+            load_credentials=True,
+        )
+
+        with self.assertRaises(EnvironmentError):
+            zappa_core.create_handler_venv()
+
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()
diff --git a/zappa/core.py b/zappa/core.py
index 12a143be0..e603ce6a4 100644
--- a/zappa/core.py
+++ b/zappa/core.py
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.manylinux_wheel_file_match = re.compile(
             rf'^.*{self.manylinux_suffix_start}-(manylinux_\d+_\d+_x86_64[.])?manylinux({"|".join(self.manylinux_suffixes)})_x86_64[.]whl$'  # noqa: E501
         )
-        self.manylinux_wheel_abi3_file_match = re.compile(rf"^.*cp3.-abi3-manylinux.*_x86_64[.]whl$")
+        self.manylinux_wheel_abi3_file_match = re.compile(r"^.*cp3.-abi3-manylinux.*_x86_64[.]whl$")
 
         self.endpoint_urls = endpoint_urls
         self.xray_tracing = xray_tracing
@@ -488,9 +488,9 @@ def create_handler_venv(self, use_zappa_release: Optional[str] = None):
 
         if pip_return_code:
             logger.info("command: %s", " ".join(command))
-            if stdout_result.strip():
+            if stdout_result and stdout_result.strip():
                 logger.info("stdout: %s", stdout_result.strip())
-            if stderror_result.strip():
+            if stderror_result and stderror_result.strip():
                 logger.error("stderr: %s", stderror_result)
             raise EnvironmentError("Pypi lookup failed")
 
diff --git a/zappa/middleware.py b/zappa/middleware.py
index 920db0c94..2cebcebfb 100644
--- a/zappa/middleware.py
+++ b/zappa/middleware.py
@@ -44,11 +44,11 @@ def encode_response(status, headers, exc_info=None):
             Related: https://github.com/Miserlou/Zappa/issues/1965
             """
 
-            new_headers = [header for header in headers if ((type(header[0]) != str) or (header[0].lower() != "set-cookie"))]
+            new_headers = [header for header in headers if isinstance(header[0], str) or header[0].lower() != "set-cookie"]
             cookie_headers = [
                 (header[0].lower(), header[1])
                 for header in headers
-                if ((type(header[0]) == str) and (header[0].lower() == "set-cookie"))
+                if isinstance(header[0], str) and header[0].lower() == "set-cookie"
             ]
             new_headers = new_headers + cookie_headers