diff --git a/src/common/platform/win32/i_mainwindow.cpp b/src/common/platform/win32/i_mainwindow.cpp
index 95dda5031..abe46df5e 100644
--- a/src/common/platform/win32/i_mainwindow.cpp
+++ b/src/common/platform/win32/i_mainwindow.cpp
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@
 
 #pragma comment(lib, "dwmapi.lib")
 
+bool IsZWidgetAvailable();
+
 MainWindow mainwindow;
 
 void MainWindow::Create(const FString& caption, int x, int y, int width, int height)
@@ -115,7 +117,15 @@ void MainWindow::ShowErrorPane(const char* text)
 	for (const FString& line : bufferedConsoleStuff)
 		alltext.append(line.GetChars(), line.Len());
 
-	restartrequest = ErrorWindow::ExecModal(text, alltext);
+	if (IsZWidgetAvailable())
+	{
+		restartrequest = ErrorWindow::ExecModal(text, alltext);
+	}
+	else // We are aborting before we even got to load zdoom.pk3
+	{
+		MessageBoxA(0, text, "Fatal Error", MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
+		restartrequest = false;
+	}
 }
 
 void MainWindow::ShowNetStartPane(const char* message, int maxpos)
diff --git a/src/common/widgets/widgetresourcedata.cpp b/src/common/widgets/widgetresourcedata.cpp
index 522f4ff1e..849b6d553 100644
--- a/src/common/widgets/widgetresourcedata.cpp
+++ b/src/common/widgets/widgetresourcedata.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@
 
 FResourceFile* WidgetResources;
 
+bool IsZWidgetAvailable()
+{
+	return WidgetResources;
+}
+
 void InitWidgetResources(const char* filename)
 {
 	WidgetResources = FResourceFile::OpenResourceFile(filename);
@@ -23,11 +28,15 @@ void InitWidgetResources(const char* filename)
 
 void CloseWidgetResources()
 {
-	if (WidgetResources) delete WidgetResources;
+	delete WidgetResources;
+	WidgetResources = nullptr;
 }
 
 static std::vector<uint8_t> LoadFile(const char* name)
 {
+	if (!WidgetResources)
+		I_FatalError("InitWidgetResources has not been called");
+
 	auto lump = WidgetResources->FindEntry(name);
 	if (lump == -1)
 		I_FatalError("Unable to find %s", name);