diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/configHandler.py b/Lib/idlelib/configHandler.py
index a193eb99f8b9..ea2010edeca2 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/configHandler.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/configHandler.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class IdleConfParser(ConfigParser):
         cfgFile - string, fully specified configuration file name
         """
         self.file=cfgFile
-        ConfigParser.__init__(self,defaults=cfgDefaults)
+        ConfigParser.__init__(self, defaults=cfgDefaults, strict=False)
 
     def Get(self, section, option, type=None, default=None, raw=False):
         """
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index f69e7e7a5cc8..a4d146ec10ef 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -235,6 +235,8 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #17114: IDLE now uses non-strict config parser.
+
 - Issue #16723: httplib.HTTPResponse no longer marked closed when the connection
   is automatically closed.