diff --git a/src/bin/buildForWindows.sh b/src/bin/buildForWindows.sh
index d62ef810e..e053b15df 100755
--- a/src/bin/buildForWindows.sh
+++ b/src/bin/buildForWindows.sh
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ rm -rf "$TMP_FOLDER"/src/node_modules/nodemailer/node_modules/mailcomposer/node_
 
 log "create the zip..."
 cd "$TMP_FOLDER"
-zip -9 -r "$START_FOLDER"/etherpad-lite-win.zip ./*
+zip -9 -r "$START_FOLDER"/etherpad-lite-win.zip ./* -x var
 
 log "clean up..."
 rm -rf "$TMP_FOLDER"