diff --git a/qga/vss-win32.c b/qga/vss-win32.c
index e1f539835c..d75d7bbf09 100644
--- a/qga/vss-win32.c
+++ b/qga/vss-win32.c
@@ -154,6 +154,7 @@ void qga_vss_fsfreeze(int *nr_volume, Error **errp, bool freeze)
         .errp = errp,
     };
 
+    g_assert(errp);             /* requester.cpp requires it */
     func = (QGAVSSRequesterFunc)GetProcAddress(provider_lib, func_name);
     if (!func) {
         error_setg_win32(errp, GetLastError(), "failed to load %s from %s",
diff --git a/qga/vss-win32/requester.cpp b/qga/vss-win32/requester.cpp
index b130fee934..aae0d5f2bf 100644
--- a/qga/vss-win32/requester.cpp
+++ b/qga/vss-win32/requester.cpp
@@ -25,8 +25,9 @@
 
 #define err_set(e, err, fmt, ...) \
     ((e)->error_setg_win32((e)->errp, err, fmt, ## __VA_ARGS__))
+/* Bad idea, works only when (e)->errp != NULL: */
 #define err_is_set(e) ((e)->errp && *(e)->errp)
-
+/* To lift this restriction, error_propagate(), like we do in QEMU code */
 
 /* Handle to VSSAPI.DLL */
 static HMODULE hLib;
diff --git a/qga/vss-win32/requester.h b/qga/vss-win32/requester.h
index 0a8d048874..34be5c1d11 100644
--- a/qga/vss-win32/requester.h
+++ b/qga/vss-win32/requester.h
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ typedef void (*ErrorSetFunc)(struct Error **errp, int win32_err,
                              const char *fmt, ...) GCC_FMT_ATTR(3, 4);
 typedef struct ErrorSet {
     ErrorSetFunc error_setg_win32;
-    struct Error **errp;
+    struct Error **errp;        /* restriction: must not be null */
 } ErrorSet;
 
 STDAPI requester_init(void);