diff --git a/files/file.c b/files/file.c
index 6b61a6047be..3d5b46969ce 100644
--- a/files/file.c
+++ b/files/file.c
@@ -975,6 +975,27 @@ HFILE32 WINAPI OpenFile32( LPCSTR name, OFSTRUCT *ofs, UINT32 mode )
 }
 
 
+/***********************************************************************
+ *           FILE_InitProcessDosHandles
+ *
+ * Allocates the default DOS handles for a process. Called either by
+ * AllocDosHandle below or by the DOSVM stuff.
+ */
+BOOL32 FILE_InitProcessDosHandles( void ) {
+	HANDLE32 *ptr;
+
+        if (!(ptr = HeapAlloc( SystemHeap, HEAP_ZERO_MEMORY,
+                               sizeof(*ptr) * DOS_TABLE_SIZE )))
+            return FALSE;
+        PROCESS_Current()->dos_handles = ptr;
+        ptr[0] = GetStdHandle(STD_INPUT_HANDLE);
+        ptr[1] = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
+        ptr[2] = GetStdHandle(STD_ERROR_HANDLE);
+        ptr[3] = GetStdHandle(STD_ERROR_HANDLE);
+        ptr[4] = GetStdHandle(STD_ERROR_HANDLE);
+	return TRUE;
+}
+
 /***********************************************************************
  *           FILE_AllocDosHandle
  *
@@ -989,17 +1010,10 @@ HFILE16 FILE_AllocDosHandle( HANDLE32 handle )
     if (!handle || (handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE32))
         return INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE16;
 
-    if (!ptr)
-    {
-        if (!(ptr = HeapAlloc( SystemHeap, HEAP_ZERO_MEMORY,
-                               sizeof(*ptr) * DOS_TABLE_SIZE )))
-            goto error;
-        PROCESS_Current()->dos_handles = ptr;
-        ptr[0] = GetStdHandle(STD_INPUT_HANDLE);
-        ptr[1] = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
-        ptr[2] = GetStdHandle(STD_ERROR_HANDLE);
-        ptr[3] = GetStdHandle(STD_ERROR_HANDLE);
-        ptr[4] = GetStdHandle(STD_ERROR_HANDLE);
+    if (!ptr) {
+    	if (!FILE_InitProcessDosHandles())
+	    goto error;
+	ptr = PROCESS_Current()->dos_handles;
     }
 
     for (i = 0; i < DOS_TABLE_SIZE; i++, ptr++)
diff --git a/include/file.h b/include/file.h
index 6af604ac4f3..f1882913a86 100644
--- a/include/file.h
+++ b/include/file.h
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ extern LPVOID FILE_dommap( int unix_handle, LPVOID start,
                            int prot, int flags );
 extern int FILE_munmap( LPVOID start, DWORD size_high, DWORD size_low );
 extern HFILE16 FILE_AllocDosHandle( HANDLE32 handle );
+extern BOOL32 FILE_InitProcessDosHandles( void );
 extern HANDLE32 FILE_GetHandle32( HFILE16 hfile );
 extern HFILE16 _lcreat16_uniq( LPCSTR path, INT32 attr );
 
diff --git a/loader/dos/dosvm.c b/loader/dos/dosvm.c
index c4933637ced..bebc815cf6f 100644
--- a/loader/dos/dosvm.c
+++ b/loader/dos/dosvm.c
@@ -210,6 +210,9 @@ int DOSVM_Enter( PCONTEXT context )
      it will be killed automatically when the current task terminates */
  } else lpDosTask=pModule->lpDosTask;
 
+ /* allocate standard DOS handles */
+ FILE_InitProcessDosHandles(); 
+
  if (context) {
 #define CP(x,y) VM86.regs.x = y##_reg(context)
   CV;