diff --git a/usr.sbin/sysinstall/index.c b/usr.sbin/sysinstall/index.c
index 7a9443a73da4..a55b54113dbf 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/sysinstall/index.c
+++ b/usr.sbin/sysinstall/index.c
@@ -687,7 +687,7 @@ index_extract(Device *dev, PkgNodePtr top, PkgNodePtr who, Boolean depended)
     int status = DITEM_SUCCESS;
     PkgNodePtr tmp2;
     IndexEntryPtr id = who->data;
-    WINDOW *w = savescr();
+    WINDOW *w;
 
     /* 
      * Short-circuit the package dependency checks.  We're already
@@ -702,6 +702,7 @@ index_extract(Device *dev, PkgNodePtr top, PkgNodePtr who, Boolean depended)
     if (id->installed == 1)
 	return DITEM_SUCCESS;
 
+    w = savescr();
     if (id && id->deps && strlen(id->deps)) {
 	char t[2048 * 8], *cp, *cp2;
 
@@ -744,6 +745,7 @@ index_extract(Device *dev, PkgNodePtr top, PkgNodePtr who, Boolean depended)
 			dev->volume, id->volume);
 		    DEVICE_INIT(mediaDevice);
 		} else {
+		    restorescr(w);
 		    return DITEM_FAILURE;
 		}
 	    }