diff --git a/src/tincctl.c b/src/tincctl.c
index 956771f7..6e7965c2 100644
--- a/src/tincctl.c
+++ b/src/tincctl.c
@@ -68,10 +68,6 @@ bool netnamegiven = false;
 char *scriptinterpreter = NULL;
 char *scriptextension = "";
 
-#ifdef HAVE_MINGW
-static struct WSAData wsa_state;
-#endif
-
 static struct option const long_options[] = {
 	{"config", required_argument, NULL, 'c'},
 	{"net", required_argument, NULL, 'n'},
@@ -682,14 +678,6 @@ bool connect_tincd(bool verbose) {
 
 	fclose(f);
 
-#ifdef HAVE_MINGW
-	if(WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsa_state)) {
-		if(verbose)
-			fprintf(stderr, "System call `%s' failed: %s", "WSAStartup", winerror(GetLastError()));
-		return false;
-	}
-#endif
-
 #ifndef HAVE_MINGW
 	struct sockaddr_un sa;
 	sa.sun_family = AF_UNIX;
@@ -2366,6 +2354,15 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+#ifdef HAVE_MINGW
+	static struct WSAData wsa_state;
+
+	if(WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsa_state)) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "System call `%s' failed: %s", "WSAStartup", winerror(GetLastError()));
+		return false;
+	}
+#endif
+
 	srand(time(NULL));
 	crypto_init();