diff --git a/lib/chef/win32/registry.rb b/lib/chef/win32/registry.rb
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/chef/win32/registry.rb
+++ b/lib/chef/win32/registry.rb
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ require_relative "api"
 require_relative "../mixin/wide_string"
 
 if RUBY_PLATFORM.match?(/mswin|mingw32|windows/)
+  require "win32/api"
   Win32.autoload :Registry, File.expand_path("../monkey_patches/win32/registry", __dir__)
   require_relative "api/registry"
-  require "win32/api"
 end
 
 class Chef
require the thing, THEN patch it