diff --git a/qga/commands-posix.c b/qga/commands-posix.c
index ff0ba626a9..67a173af4f 100644
--- a/qga/commands-posix.c
+++ b/qga/commands-posix.c
@@ -223,7 +223,9 @@ typedef struct GuestFileHandle {
 
 static struct {
     QTAILQ_HEAD(, GuestFileHandle) filehandles;
-} guest_file_state;
+} guest_file_state = {
+    .filehandles = QTAILQ_HEAD_INITIALIZER(guest_file_state.filehandles),
+};
 
 static int64_t guest_file_handle_add(FILE *fh, Error **errp)
 {
@@ -586,11 +588,6 @@ void qmp_guest_file_flush(int64_t handle, Error **errp)
     }
 }
 
-static void guest_file_init(void)
-{
-    QTAILQ_INIT(&guest_file_state.filehandles);
-}
-
 /* linux-specific implementations. avoid this if at all possible. */
 #if defined(__linux__)
 
@@ -2492,5 +2489,4 @@ void ga_command_state_init(GAState *s, GACommandState *cs)
 #if defined(CONFIG_FSFREEZE)
     ga_command_state_add(cs, NULL, guest_fsfreeze_cleanup);
 #endif
-    ga_command_state_add(cs, guest_file_init, NULL);
 }
diff --git a/qga/commands-win32.c b/qga/commands-win32.c
index 048164639d..d9de23bbb8 100644
--- a/qga/commands-win32.c
+++ b/qga/commands-win32.c
@@ -55,7 +55,9 @@ typedef struct GuestFileHandle {
 
 static struct {
     QTAILQ_HEAD(, GuestFileHandle) filehandles;
-} guest_file_state;
+} guest_file_state = {
+    .filehandles = QTAILQ_HEAD_INITIALIZER(guest_file_state.filehandles),
+};
 
 
 typedef struct OpenFlags {
@@ -390,11 +392,6 @@ void qmp_guest_file_flush(int64_t handle, Error **errp)
     }
 }
 
-static void guest_file_init(void)
-{
-    QTAILQ_INIT(&guest_file_state.filehandles);
-}
-
 #ifdef CONFIG_QGA_NTDDSCSI
 
 static STORAGE_BUS_TYPE win2qemu[] = {
@@ -1330,5 +1327,4 @@ void ga_command_state_init(GAState *s, GACommandState *cs)
     if (!vss_initialized()) {
         ga_command_state_add(cs, NULL, guest_fsfreeze_cleanup);
     }
-    ga_command_state_add(cs, guest_file_init, NULL);
 }