diff --git a/daemon/daemon.c b/daemon/daemon.c
index 7ec971580..88df3cc92 100644
--- a/daemon/daemon.c
+++ b/daemon/daemon.c
@@ -494,12 +494,15 @@ daemon_start (void * raw_arg,
 
     sd_notifyf (0, "MAINPID=%d\n", (int)getpid());
 
+    /* should go before libevent calls */
+    tr_net_init ();
+
     /* setup event state */
-    ev_base = event_base_new();
+    ev_base = event_base_new ();
     if (ev_base == NULL)
     {
         char buf[256];
-        tr_snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "Failed to init daemon event state: %s", tr_strerror(errno));
+        tr_snprintf (buf, sizeof (buf), "Failed to init daemon event state: %s", tr_strerror (errno));
         printMessage (logfile, TR_LOG_ERROR, MY_NAME, buf, __FILE__, __LINE__);
         return 1;
     }
diff --git a/libtransmission/net.c b/libtransmission/net.c
index 2894f6b42..53612fea8 100644
--- a/libtransmission/net.c
+++ b/libtransmission/net.c
@@ -55,21 +55,6 @@
 const tr_address tr_in6addr_any = { TR_AF_INET6, { IN6ADDR_ANY_INIT } };
 const tr_address tr_inaddr_any = { TR_AF_INET, { { { { INADDR_ANY, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00 } } } } };
 
-void
-tr_netInit (void)
-{
-    static bool initialized = false;
-
-    if (!initialized)
-    {
-#ifdef _WIN32
-        WSADATA wsaData;
-        WSAStartup (MAKEWORD (2, 2), &wsaData);
-#endif
-        initialized = true;
-    }
-}
-
 char *
 tr_net_strerror (char * buf, size_t buflen, int err)
 {
diff --git a/libtransmission/net.h b/libtransmission/net.h
index ba7825c1d..5407de82d 100644
--- a/libtransmission/net.h
+++ b/libtransmission/net.h
@@ -163,8 +163,6 @@ void tr_netClose (tr_session  * session,
 
 void tr_netCloseSocket (tr_socket_t fd);
 
-void tr_netInit (void);
-
 bool tr_net_hasIPv6 (tr_port);
 
 
diff --git a/libtransmission/session.c b/libtransmission/session.c
index 0fb63b232..7550d5220 100644
--- a/libtransmission/session.c
+++ b/libtransmission/session.c
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ tr_sessionInit (const char  * tag,
     tr_logSetLevel (i);
 
   /* start the libtransmission thread */
-  tr_netInit (); /* must go before tr_eventInit */
+  tr_net_init (); /* must go before tr_eventInit */
   tr_eventInit (session);
   assert (session->events != NULL);
 
diff --git a/libtransmission/utils.c b/libtransmission/utils.c
index 42c755671..d02bac882 100644
--- a/libtransmission/utils.c
+++ b/libtransmission/utils.c
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 #include <time.h> /* nanosleep () */
 
 #ifdef _WIN32
+ #include <ws2tcpip.h> /* WSAStartup () */
  #include <windows.h> /* Sleep (), GetSystemTimeAsFileTime (), GetEnvironmentVariable () */
  #include <shellapi.h> /* CommandLineToArgv () */
 #else
@@ -1842,3 +1843,22 @@ char * tr_env_get_string (const char * key,
 
 #endif
 }
+
+/***
+****
+***/
+
+void
+tr_net_init (void)
+{
+    static bool initialized = false;
+
+    if (!initialized)
+    {
+#ifdef _WIN32
+        WSADATA wsaData;
+        WSAStartup (MAKEWORD (2, 2), &wsaData);
+#endif
+        initialized = true;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/libtransmission/utils.h b/libtransmission/utils.h
index d6fd03213..4499c2ff2 100644
--- a/libtransmission/utils.h
+++ b/libtransmission/utils.h
@@ -504,6 +504,12 @@ char * tr_env_get_string (const char * key,
 ****
 ***/
 
+void tr_net_init (void);
+
+/***
+****
+***/
+
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
 #endif