diff --git a/parser.c b/parser.c
index 43a1a0ab..1ba988cf 100644
--- a/parser.c
+++ b/parser.c
@@ -14741,6 +14741,10 @@ xmlInitParser(void) {
     if (xmlParserInitialized != 0)
 	return;
 
+#if defined(WIN32) && (!defined(LIBXML_STATIC) || defined(LIBXML_STATIC_FOR_DLL))
+	atexit(xmlCleanupParser);
+#endif
+
 #ifdef LIBXML_THREAD_ENABLED
     __xmlGlobalInitMutexLock();
     if (xmlParserInitialized == 0) {