diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index 41e055f7de..e2cb92a414 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -2269,10 +2269,8 @@ int mingw_kill(pid_t pid, int sig)
 			}
 			ret = terminate_process_tree(h, 128 + sig);
 		}
-		if (ret) {
+		if (ret)
 			errno = err_win_to_posix(GetLastError());
-			CloseHandle(h);
-		}
 		return ret;
 	} else if (pid > 0 && sig == 0) {
 		HANDLE h = OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION, FALSE, pid);
diff --git a/compat/win32/exit-process.h b/compat/win32/exit-process.h
index d53989884c..26004161bc 100644
--- a/compat/win32/exit-process.h
+++ b/compat/win32/exit-process.h
@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ static int exit_process(HANDLE process, int exit_code)
 		return terminate_process_tree(process, exit_code);
 	}
 
+	CloseHandle(process);
 	return 0;
 }