diff --git a/src/client/gui/lib/platform/windows.dart b/src/client/gui/lib/platform/windows.dart
index 723527267dd..3fc5a18a64b 100644
--- a/src/client/gui/lib/platform/windows.dart
+++ b/src/client/gui/lib/platform/windows.dart
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
-import 'dart:ffi';
 import 'dart:io';
 
-import 'package:ffi/ffi.dart';
 import 'package:flutter/services.dart';
 import 'package:flutter/widgets.dart';
 import 'package:win32/win32.dart';
@@ -92,15 +90,18 @@ class WindowsAutostartNotifier extends AutostartNotifier {
 
   void _createShortcut(String path, String linkPath) {
     final shellLink = createInstance<IShellLink>(ShellLink);
+    final persistFile = IPersistFile.from(shellLink);
     final pathPcwstr = path.toPcwstr();
     final linkPathPcwstr = linkPath.toPcwstr();
 
     try {
       shellLink.setPath(pathPcwstr);
-      IPersistFile.from(shellLink).save(linkPathPcwstr, true);
+      persistFile.save(linkPathPcwstr, true);
     } finally {
       free(pathPcwstr);
       free(linkPathPcwstr);
+      persistFile.release();
+      shellLink.release();
     }
   }
 }