diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 845860f6..70861865 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -656,6 +656,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "color-eyre",
  "colored",
  "derive_more",
+ "dunce",
  "env_logger",
  "inquire",
  "interactive-clap",
@@ -1312,6 +1313,12 @@ version = "0.3.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "fea41bba32d969b513997752735605054bc0dfa92b4c56bf1189f2e174be7a10"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "dunce"
+version = "1.0.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "56ce8c6da7551ec6c462cbaf3bfbc75131ebbfa1c944aeaa9dab51ca1c5f0c3b"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "dyn-clone"
 version = "1.0.14"
diff --git a/cargo-near/Cargo.toml b/cargo-near/Cargo.toml
index 74774bfa..c8c46e08 100644
--- a/cargo-near/Cargo.toml
+++ b/cargo-near/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,7 +9,12 @@ readme = "README.md"
 repository = "https://github.com/near/cargo-near"
 license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
 keywords = ["cargo", "near", "contract", "abi", "build"]
-categories = ["development-tools", "development-tools::cargo-plugins", "development-tools::build-utils", "command-line-utilities"]
+categories = [
+    "development-tools",
+    "development-tools::cargo-plugins",
+    "development-tools::build-utils",
+    "command-line-utilities",
+]
 
 [package.metadata.wix]
 upgrade-guid = "FFBAE83D-C3FA-45DD-9F19-C8F312E905C5"
@@ -42,3 +47,4 @@ interactive-clap-derive = "0.2.5"
 near-cli-rs = { version = "0.5.2" }
 derive_more = "0.99.9"
 shell-words = "1.0.0"
+dunce = "1.0.4"
diff --git a/cargo-near/src/util/mod.rs b/cargo-near/src/util/mod.rs
index 8ae2f91c..34285717 100644
--- a/cargo-near/src/util/mod.rs
+++ b/cargo-near/src/util/mod.rs
@@ -58,14 +58,6 @@ where
         let path = path.as_ref();
         log::debug!("Setting cargo working dir to '{}'", path);
         cmd.current_dir(path);
-        #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
-        {
-            let mut path = path.as_std_path().to_string_lossy().to_string();
-            // remove first 4 elements from path string
-            path.drain(..4);
-            let path = std::path::PathBuf::from(path);
-            cmd.current_dir(path);
-        }
     }
 
     cmd.arg(command);
@@ -249,8 +241,11 @@ pub(crate) fn compile_project(
 /// Create the directory if it doesn't exist, and return the absolute path to it.
 pub(crate) fn force_canonicalize_dir(dir: &Utf8Path) -> color_eyre::eyre::Result<Utf8PathBuf> {
     fs::create_dir_all(dir).wrap_err_with(|| format!("failed to create directory `{}`", dir))?;
-    dir.canonicalize_utf8()
-        .wrap_err_with(|| format!("failed to access output directory `{}`", dir))
+    let compatible_path = dunce::canonicalize(&dir);
+    match compatible_path {
+        Ok(path) => Ok(Utf8PathBuf::from_path_buf(path).unwrap()),
+        Err(err) => Err(err).wrap_err_with(|| format!("failed to canonicalize path `{}`", dir)),
+    }
 }
 
 /// Copy a file to a destination.