diff --git a/src/frontend/KaizenGui.cpp b/src/frontend/KaizenGui.cpp
index 969e545e..1a3416cd 100644
--- a/src/frontend/KaizenGui.cpp
+++ b/src/frontend/KaizenGui.cpp
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@ KaizenGui::KaizenGui() noexcept : window("Kaizen", 800, 600), settingsWindow(win
   SDL_InitSubSystem(SDL_INIT_GAMEPAD);
 
   SDL_AddGamepadMapping(gamecontrollerdb_str);
-
-  std::thread fileWorker(&KaizenGui::FileWorker, this);
-
-  fileWorker.detach();
 }
 
 KaizenGui::~KaizenGui() {
@@ -391,7 +387,7 @@ void KaizenGui::RenderUI() {
     fileDialogOpen = false;
     constexpr SDL_DialogFileFilter filters[] = {{"All files", "*"}, {"Nintendo 64 executable", "n64;z64;v64"}, {"Nintendo 64 executable archive", "rar;tar;zip;7z"}};
     SDL_ShowOpenFileDialog([](void *userdata, const char * const *filelist, int) {
-      const auto kaizen = static_cast<KaizenGui*>(userdata);
+      auto kaizen = static_cast<KaizenGui*>(userdata);
       
       if (!filelist) {
         panic("An error occured: {}", SDL_GetError());
@@ -405,6 +401,9 @@ void KaizenGui::RenderUI() {
 
       kaizen->fileToLoad = *filelist;
       kaizen->shouldDisplaySpinner = true;
+
+      std::thread fileWorker(&KaizenGui::FileWorker, kaizen);
+      fileWorker.detach();
     }, this, window.getHandle(), filters, 3, nullptr, false);
   }
 
diff --git a/src/frontend/KaizenGui.hpp b/src/frontend/KaizenGui.hpp
index 7e9f1c05..d55a78d5 100644
--- a/src/frontend/KaizenGui.hpp
+++ b/src/frontend/KaizenGui.hpp
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ private:
   bool fileDialogOpen = false;
   bool quit = false;
   bool shouldDisplaySpinner = false;
-  std::string fileToLoad;
+  std::string fileToLoad = "";
   void RenderUI();
   void HandleInput(const SDL_Event &event);
   void QueryDevices(const SDL_Event &event);