diff --git a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/entity_instance.py b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/entity_instance.py
index f43e58bcb8..3c53a96cc1 100644
--- a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/entity_instance.py
+++ b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/entity_instance.py
@@ -160,7 +160,14 @@ class entity_instance:
         instance references prevents file gc, even with all instance
         refs deleted. This is a work-around for that.
         """
-        self.wrapped_data.file = None
+        # Avoid infinite recursion if entity is failed to initialize
+        # and wrapped_data is unset. Hacky since we override
+        # both __dict__ and __dir__.
+        try:
+            wrapped_data = super().__getattribute__("wrapped_data")
+            wrapped_data.file = None
+        except AttributeError:
+            return
 
     @property
     def file(self):
diff --git a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/file.py b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/file.py
index fd08c36b77..cb50ca6ca1 100644
--- a/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/file.py
+++ b/src/ifcopenshell-python/ifcopenshell/file.py
@@ -277,6 +277,10 @@ class file:
         file_dict[self.file_pointer()] = weakref.ref(self)
 
     def __del__(self) -> None:
+        # Avoid infinite recursion if file is failed to initialize
+        # and wrapped_data is unset.
+        if "wrapped_data" not in dir(self):
+            return
         del file_dict[self.file_pointer()]
 
     def set_history_size(self, size: int) -> None: