diff --git a/libcob/ChangeLog b/libcob/ChangeLog
index 7a2fb799..ce441dfc 100644
--- a/libcob/ChangeLog
+++ b/libcob/ChangeLog
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 
+2025-01-28  David Declerck <david.declerck@ocamlpro.com>
+
+	* fileio.c (cob_file_close): try to close the file stream
+	  first, close the file descriptor only if the stream is NULL
+	  (fixes assertions under MSVC debug)
+
 2024-11-06  David Declerck <david.declerck@ocamlpro.com>
 
 	Reverted change 2022-02-21 to integrate change
diff --git a/libcob/fileio.c b/libcob/fileio.c
index 0349e12f..5678becc 100644
--- a/libcob/fileio.c
+++ b/libcob/fileio.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-   Copyright (C) 2002-2012, 2014-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+   Copyright (C) 2002-2012, 2014-2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
    Written by Keisuke Nishida, Roger While, Simon Sobisch, Ron Norman
 
    This file is part of GnuCOBOL.
@@ -4764,32 +4764,17 @@ cob_file_close (cob_file_api *a, cob_file *f, const int opt)
 				f->file_pid = 0;
 				return COB_STATUS_00_SUCCESS;
 			}
-#ifdef _MSC_VER /* explicit only stream or fd close with this compiler */
-			if (f->file != NULL) {
-				fclose ((FILE *)f->file);
-				f->file = NULL;
-#ifdef _WIN32
-				/* at least on MSVC that closes the underlying file descriptor, too */
-				f->fd = -1;
-#endif
-			}
-#endif
-		} else {
-			if (f->fd >= 0) {
-				close (f->fd);
-				f->fd = -1;
-#ifdef _MSC_VER
-				f->file = NULL;
-#endif
-			}
 		}
-#ifndef _MSC_VER /* explicit disallowed there, is that the same for other compilers? */
 		if (f->file != NULL) {
+			/* This should close the underlying fd */
 			fclose ((FILE *)f->file);
 			f->file = NULL;
 			f->fd = -1;
+		} else
+		if (f->fd >= 0) {
+			close (f->fd);
+			f->fd = -1;
 		}
-#endif
 		if (opt == COB_CLOSE_NO_REWIND) {
 			f->open_mode = COB_OPEN_CLOSED;
 			return COB_STATUS_07_SUCCESS_NO_UNIT;