diff --git a/reactos/tools/rbuild/project.cpp b/reactos/tools/rbuild/project.cpp
index a2b3c9daafe..509d7315b0e 100644
--- a/reactos/tools/rbuild/project.cpp
+++ b/reactos/tools/rbuild/project.cpp
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ Project::Project ( const Configuration& configuration,
 	  head (NULL),
 	  configuration (configuration)
 {
+	_backend = NULL;
 	ReadXml();
 }