diff --git a/source/blender/gpu/opengl/gl_compilation_subprocess.cc b/source/blender/gpu/opengl/gl_compilation_subprocess.cc
index 296a6a72ea7..8b8b9187ec6 100644
--- a/source/blender/gpu/opengl/gl_compilation_subprocess.cc
+++ b/source/blender/gpu/opengl/gl_compilation_subprocess.cc
@@ -262,6 +262,8 @@ void GPU_compilation_subprocess_run(const char *subprocess_name)
         /* Use temp memory so we don't overwrite the source hash. */
         static char tmp_mem[compilation_subprocess_shared_memory_size];
         file.read(tmp_mem, size);
+        /* Close first in case validation hangs the driver. */
+        file.close();
         /* Ensure it's valid. */
         if (!validate_binary(tmp_mem)) {
           std::cout << "Compilation Subprocess: Failed to load cached shader binary " << hash_str
@@ -269,7 +271,6 @@ void GPU_compilation_subprocess_run(const char *subprocess_name)
           /* TODO: No longer true. */
           /* We can't compile the shader anymore since we have written over the source code,
            * but we delete the cache for the next time this shader is requested. */
-          file.close();
           BLI_delete(cache_path.c_str(), false, false);
         }
         /* Copy the temp memory to the shared memory now that we know loading the shader doesn't