diff --git a/src/sbbs3/ssl.c b/src/sbbs3/ssl.c
index 6ff9cf9bb6bb62a901d6b729b90198be8298630b..fa96f61184ed5cdda6bb77037d01cd01b86b4fa0 100644
--- a/src/sbbs3/ssl.c
+++ b/src/sbbs3/ssl.c
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ bool DLLCALL is_crypt_initialized(void)
 CRYPT_CONTEXT DLLCALL get_ssl_cert(scfg_t *cfg, char estr[SSL_ESTR_LEN])
 {
 	CRYPT_KEYSET		ssl_keyset;
-	CRYPT_CONTEXT		ssl_context = -1;
+	CRYPT_CONTEXT		ssl_context = -1;	// MSVC requires this to be initialized
 	CRYPT_CERTIFICATE	ssl_cert;
 	int					i;
 	char				sysop_email[sizeof(cfg->sys_inetaddr)+6];