diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/4651-zypper-checkmode-fix.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/4651-zypper-checkmode-fix.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..403e4eead6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/4651-zypper-checkmode-fix.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - zypper - fix undefined variable when running in check mode (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/4667).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/packaging/os/zypper.py b/plugins/modules/packaging/os/zypper.py
index ab49051b17..07d71169ec 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/packaging/os/zypper.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/packaging/os/zypper.py
@@ -323,6 +323,8 @@ def parse_zypper_xml(m, cmd, fail_not_found=True, packages=None):
         if packages is None:
             firstrun = True
             packages = {}
+        else:
+            firstrun = False
         solvable_list = dom.getElementsByTagName('solvable')
         for solvable in solvable_list:
             name = solvable.getAttribute('name')