diff --git content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
index 02ce81f80d522..16f2bb293684e 100644
--- content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
+++ content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.h"
 
 #include <memory>
+#include <tuple>
 #include <set>
 #include <utility>
 
@@ -711,10 +712,12 @@ gfx::Rect RenderWidgetHostViewAura::GetViewBounds() {
 void RenderWidgetHostViewAura::UpdateBackgroundColor() {
   DCHECK(GetBackgroundColor());
 
-  SkColor color = *GetBackgroundColor();
-  bool opaque = SkColorGetA(color) == SK_AlphaOPAQUE;
-  window_->layer()->SetFillsBoundsOpaquely(opaque);
-  window_->layer()->SetColor(color);
+  if (window_) {
+    SkColor color = *GetBackgroundColor();
+    bool opaque = SkColorGetA(color) == SK_AlphaOPAQUE;
+    window_->layer()->SetFillsBoundsOpaquely(opaque);
+    window_->layer()->SetColor(color);
+  }
 }
 
 absl::optional<DisplayFeature> RenderWidgetHostViewAura::GetDisplayFeature() {
@@ -2217,6 +2220,16 @@ void RenderWidgetHostViewAura::CreateAuraWindow(aura::client::WindowType type) {
   // This needs to happen only after |window_| has been initialized using
   // Init(), because it needs to have the layer.
   window_->SetEmbedFrameSinkId(frame_sink_id_);
+
+  // Do this after |window_| is created to avoid crashes on Win10.
+  // See https://crbug.com/761389.
+  auto web_contents =
+      WebContents::FromRenderViewHost(RenderViewHost::From(host_));
+  if (web_contents) {
+    // TODO(mostynb): actually use prefs.  Landing this as a separate CL
+    // first to rebaseline some unreliable layout tests.
+    std::ignore = web_contents->GetOrCreateWebPreferences();
+  }
 }
 
 void RenderWidgetHostViewAura::CreateDelegatedFrameHostClient() {