diff --git a/panda/src/express/config_express.cxx b/panda/src/express/config_express.cxx
index 17703fe4b1..9961ec5b8a 100644
--- a/panda/src/express/config_express.cxx
+++ b/panda/src/express/config_express.cxx
@@ -59,14 +59,6 @@ ConfigVariableBool keep_temporary_files
           "default) to delete these.  Mainly useful for debugging "
           "when the process goes wrong."));
 
-ConfigVariableInt multifile_encryption_iteration_count
-("multifile-encryption-iteration-count", 0,
- PRC_DESC("This is a special value of encryption-iteration-count used to encrypt "
-          "subfiles within a multifile.  It has a default value of 0 (just one "
-          "application), on the assumption that the files from a multifile must "
-          "be loaded quickly, without paying the cost of an expensive hash on "
-          "each subfile in order to decrypt it."));
-
 ConfigVariableBool collect_tcp
 ("collect-tcp", false,
  PRC_DESC("Set this true to enable accumulation of several small consecutive "
diff --git a/panda/src/express/config_express.h b/panda/src/express/config_express.h
index 5066e2227f..6442077aed 100644
--- a/panda/src/express/config_express.h
+++ b/panda/src/express/config_express.h
@@ -48,8 +48,6 @@ extern ConfigVariableInt patchfile_zone_size;
 
 extern ConfigVariableBool keep_temporary_files;
 
-extern ConfigVariableInt multifile_encryption_iteration_count;
-
 extern EXPCL_PANDAEXPRESS ConfigVariableBool collect_tcp;
 extern EXPCL_PANDAEXPRESS ConfigVariableDouble collect_tcp_interval;
 
diff --git a/panda/src/express/multifile.cxx b/panda/src/express/multifile.cxx
index 76678ee1e9..4966add1a9 100644
--- a/panda/src/express/multifile.cxx
+++ b/panda/src/express/multifile.cxx
@@ -103,6 +103,14 @@ Multifile() :
   _read_filew(_read_file),
   _read_write_filew(_read_write_file)
 {
+  ConfigVariableInt multifile_encryption_iteration_count
+    ("multifile-encryption-iteration-count", 0,
+     PRC_DESC("This is a special value of encryption-iteration-count used to encrypt "
+              "subfiles within a multifile.  It has a default value of 0 (just one "
+              "application), on the assumption that the files from a multifile must "
+          "be loaded quickly, without paying the cost of an expensive hash on "
+              "each subfile in order to decrypt it."));
+  
   _read = (IStreamWrapper *)NULL;
   _write = (ostream *)NULL;
   _owns_stream = false;