diff --git a/source/blender/blenloader/intern/readfile.c b/source/blender/blenloader/intern/readfile.c
index aa2f103c693..6072704100c 100644
--- a/source/blender/blenloader/intern/readfile.c
+++ b/source/blender/blenloader/intern/readfile.c
@@ -5483,10 +5483,17 @@ static void direct_link_windowmanager(BlendDataReader *reader, wmWindowManager *
     WorkSpaceInstanceHook *hook = win->workspace_hook;
     BLO_read_data_address(reader, &win->workspace_hook);
 
-    /* We need to restore a pointer to this later when reading workspaces,
-     * so store in global oldnew-map.
-     * Note that this is only needed for versionning of older .blend files now.. */
-    oldnewmap_insert(reader->fd->globmap, hook, win->workspace_hook, 0);
+    /* This will be NULL for any pre-2.80 blend file. */
+    if (win->workspace_hook != NULL) {
+      /* We need to restore a pointer to this later when reading workspaces,
+       * so store in global oldnew-map.
+       * Note that this is only needed for versionning of older .blend files now.. */
+      oldnewmap_insert(reader->fd->globmap, hook, win->workspace_hook, 0);
+      /* Cleanup pointers to data outside of this data-block scope. */
+      win->workspace_hook->act_layout = NULL;
+      win->workspace_hook->temp_workspace_store = NULL;
+      win->workspace_hook->temp_layout_store = NULL;
+    }
 
     direct_link_area_map(reader, &win->global_areas);