diff --git a/src/sharedspice.c b/src/sharedspice.c
index acc814887..60db65a49 100644
--- a/src/sharedspice.c
+++ b/src/sharedspice.c
@@ -965,12 +965,15 @@ ngSpice_Init(SendChar* printfcn, SendStat* statusfcn, ControlledExit* ngspiceexi
         struct passwd *pw;
         pw = getpwuid(getuid());
 
-        s = tprintf("%s" DIR_PATHSEP "%s", pw->pw_dir, INITSTR);
+        if (pw) {
+            s = tprintf("%s" DIR_PATHSEP "%s", pw->pw_dir, INITSTR);
 
-        if (access(s, 0) == 0)
-            inp_source(s);
+            if (access(s, 0) == 0) {
+                inp_source(s);
+            }
 
-        tfree(s);
+            tfree(s);
+        }
     }
 #else /* ~ HAVE_PWD_H */
     /* load user's initialisation file
diff --git a/src/tclspice.c b/src/tclspice.c
index 7e8e47b92..b98668a05 100644
--- a/src/tclspice.c
+++ b/src/tclspice.c
@@ -2525,10 +2525,15 @@ Spice_Init(Tcl_Interp *interp)
             struct passwd *pw;
             pw = getpwuid(getuid());
 
-            s = tprintf("%s" DIR_PATHSEP "%s", pw->pw_dir, INITSTR);
+            if (pw) {
+                s = tprintf("%s" DIR_PATHSEP "%s", pw->pw_dir, INITSTR);
 
-            if (access(s, 0) == 0)
-                inp_source(s);
+                if (access(s, 0) == 0) {
+                    inp_source(s);
+                }
+
+                tfree(s);
+            }
         }
 #else /* ~ HAVE_PWD_H */
         {