diff --git a/src/mkdwarfs_main.cpp b/src/mkdwarfs_main.cpp
index 55e587cf..f06a1cc1 100644
--- a/src/mkdwarfs_main.cpp
+++ b/src/mkdwarfs_main.cpp
@@ -716,6 +716,12 @@ int mkdwarfs_main(int argc, sys_char** argv) {
     }
   }
 
+  path = std::filesystem::canonical(path);
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  path = std::filesystem::path(L"\\\\?\\" + path.wstring());
+#endif
+
   bool recompress = vm.count("recompress");
   rewrite_options rw_opts;
   if (recompress) {