diff --git a/vcl/win/app/saltimer.cxx b/vcl/win/app/saltimer.cxx
index 1ccab54e96c8..74f4cc133f53 100644
--- a/vcl/win/app/saltimer.cxx
+++ b/vcl/win/app/saltimer.cxx
@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@ void CALLBACK SalTimerProc(PVOID data, BOOLEAN)
 #if OSL_DEBUG_LEVEL > 0
         if (!ret) // SEH prevents using SAL_WARN here?
             fputs("ERROR: PostMessage() failed!\n", stderr);
+#else
+        (void)ret;
 #endif
     }
     __except(WinSalInstance::WorkaroundExceptionHandlingInUSER32Lib(GetExceptionCode(), GetExceptionInformation()))