diff --git content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
index 236b40392445..c7eb7f728120 100644
--- content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
+++ content/browser/renderer_host/render_widget_host_view_aura.cc
@@ -718,10 +718,12 @@ gfx::Rect RenderWidgetHostViewAura::GetViewBounds() const {
 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);
+  }
 }
 
 void RenderWidgetHostViewAura::WindowTitleChanged() {
@@ -1920,6 +1922,15 @@ void RenderWidgetHostViewAura::CreateAuraWindow(aura::client::WindowType type) {
   if (frame_sink_id_.is_valid())
     window_->SetEmbedFrameSinkId(frame_sink_id_);
 
+  // Do this after |window_| is created to avoid crashes on Win10.
+  // See https://crbug.com/761389.
+  RenderViewHost* rvh = RenderViewHost::From(host_);
+  if (rvh) {
+    // TODO(mostynb): actually use prefs.  Landing this as a separate CL
+    // first to rebaseline some unreliable layout tests.
+    ignore_result(rvh->GetWebkitPreferences());
+  }
+
   if (features::IsAshInBrowserProcess())
     return;