diff --git a/R-package/src/Makevars.in b/R-package/src/Makevars.in
index c793f09d4..366975ab2 100644
--- a/R-package/src/Makevars.in
+++ b/R-package/src/Makevars.in
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ endif
 $(foreach v, $(XGB_RFLAGS), $(warning $(v)))
 
 PKG_CPPFLAGS=  -I$(PKGROOT)/include -I$(PKGROOT)/dmlc-core/include -I$(PKGROOT)/rabit/include -I$(PKGROOT) $(XGB_RFLAGS)
-PKG_CXXFLAGS= @OPENMP_CXXFLAGS@ @ENDIAN_FLAG@ -pthread
+PKG_CXXFLAGS= @OPENMP_CXXFLAGS@ @ENDIAN_FLAG@ -pthread $(CXX_VISIBILITY)
 PKG_LIBS = @OPENMP_CXXFLAGS@ @OPENMP_LIB@ @ENDIAN_FLAG@ @BACKTRACE_LIB@ -pthread
 OBJECTS= ./xgboost_R.o ./xgboost_custom.o ./xgboost_assert.o ./init.o \
          $(PKGROOT)/amalgamation/xgboost-all0.o $(PKGROOT)/amalgamation/dmlc-minimum0.o \
diff --git a/R-package/src/init.c b/R-package/src/init.c
index 119fdb9f3..9cfa1ac3f 100644
--- a/R-package/src/init.c
+++ b/R-package/src/init.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <Rinternals.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <R_ext/Rdynload.h>
+#include <R_ext/Visibility.h>
 
 /* FIXME:
 Check these declarations against the C/Fortran source code.
@@ -89,7 +90,7 @@ static const R_CallMethodDef CallEntries[] = {
 #if defined(_WIN32)
 __declspec(dllexport)
 #endif  // defined(_WIN32)
-void R_init_xgboost(DllInfo *dll) {
+void attribute_visible R_init_xgboost(DllInfo *dll) {
   R_registerRoutines(dll, NULL, CallEntries, NULL, NULL);
   R_useDynamicSymbols(dll, FALSE);
 }
diff --git a/R-package/src/xgboost-win.def b/R-package/src/xgboost-win.def
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..483e76f80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/R-package/src/xgboost-win.def
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+LIBRARY xgboost.dll
+EXPORTS
+ R_init_xgboost