diff --git a/qga/commands-win32.c b/qga/commands-win32.c
index 2533e4c748..5866cc2e3c 100644
--- a/qga/commands-win32.c
+++ b/qga/commands-win32.c
@@ -1203,7 +1203,7 @@ GuestFilesystemInfoList *qmp_guest_get_fsinfo(Error **errp)
 GuestFsfreezeStatus qmp_guest_fsfreeze_status(Error **errp)
 {
     if (!vss_initialized()) {
-        error_setg(errp, QERR_UNSUPPORTED);
+        error_setg(errp, "fsfreeze not possible as VSS failed to initialize");
         return 0;
     }
 
@@ -1231,7 +1231,7 @@ int64_t qmp_guest_fsfreeze_freeze_list(bool has_mountpoints,
     Error *local_err = NULL;
 
     if (!vss_initialized()) {
-        error_setg(errp, QERR_UNSUPPORTED);
+        error_setg(errp, "fsfreeze not possible as VSS failed to initialize");
         return 0;
     }
 
@@ -1266,7 +1266,7 @@ int64_t qmp_guest_fsfreeze_thaw(Error **errp)
     int i;
 
     if (!vss_initialized()) {
-        error_setg(errp, QERR_UNSUPPORTED);
+        error_setg(errp, "fsfreeze not possible as VSS failed to initialize");
         return 0;
     }
 
@@ -1961,18 +1961,6 @@ done:
 /* add unsupported commands to the list of blocked RPCs */
 GList *ga_command_init_blockedrpcs(GList *blockedrpcs)
 {
-    if (!vss_init(true)) {
-        g_debug("vss_init failed, vss commands are going to be disabled");
-        const char *list[] = {
-            "guest-get-fsinfo", "guest-fsfreeze-status",
-            "guest-fsfreeze-freeze", "guest-fsfreeze-thaw", NULL};
-        char **p = (char **)list;
-
-        while (*p) {
-            blockedrpcs = g_list_append(blockedrpcs, g_strdup(*p++));
-        }
-    }
-
     return blockedrpcs;
 }
 
diff --git a/qga/main.c b/qga/main.c
index f4d5f15bb3..17b6ce18ac 100644
--- a/qga/main.c
+++ b/qga/main.c
@@ -1395,6 +1395,10 @@ static GAState *initialize_agent(GAConfig *config, int socket_activation)
                    " '%s': %s", config->state_dir, strerror(errno));
         return NULL;
     }
+
+    if (!vss_init(true)) {
+        g_debug("vss_init failed, vss commands will not function");
+    }
 #endif
 
     if (ga_is_frozen(s)) {