diff --git a/dlls/mshtml/htmldoc.c b/dlls/mshtml/htmldoc.c
index fcabaa16e6f..7fc6f30ea69 100644
--- a/dlls/mshtml/htmldoc.c
+++ b/dlls/mshtml/htmldoc.c
@@ -1664,7 +1664,7 @@ HRESULT create_doc_from_nsdoc(nsIDOMHTMLDocument *nsdoc, HTMLDocument **ret)
 HRESULT HTMLDocument_Create(IUnknown *pUnkOuter, REFIID riid, void** ppvObject)
 {
     HTMLDocument *doc;
-    nsIDOMWindow *nswindow;
+    nsIDOMWindow *nswindow = NULL;
     HRESULT hres;
 
     TRACE("(%p %s %p)\n", pUnkOuter, debugstr_guid(riid), ppvObject);