diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
index a55b5c0ac..dcd7970cb 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FS.java
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ public abstract class FS {
 	/** The auto-detected implementation selected for this operating system and JRE. */
 	public static final FS DETECTED = detect();
 
-	private static FSFactory factory;
+	private volatile static FSFactory factory;
 
 	/**
 	 * Auto-detect the appropriate file system abstraction.