diff --git a/modelbaker/dbconnector/gpkg_connector.py b/modelbaker/dbconnector/gpkg_connector.py
index 95552bb..0cf4155 100644
--- a/modelbaker/dbconnector/gpkg_connector.py
+++ b/modelbaker/dbconnector/gpkg_connector.py
@@ -875,7 +875,9 @@ def rename_dataset(self, tid, datasetname):
         return False, self.tr('Could not rename dataset to "{}".').format(datasetname)
 
     def get_topics_info(self):
-        if self._table_exists("T_ILI2DB_CLASSNAME"):
+        if self._table_exists("T_ILI2DB_CLASSNAME") and self._table_exists(
+            GPKG_METAATTRS_TABLE
+        ):
             cursor = self.conn.cursor()
             cursor.execute(
                 """
diff --git a/modelbaker/dbconnector/mssql_connector.py b/modelbaker/dbconnector/mssql_connector.py
index eb3f435..849a4ef 100644
--- a/modelbaker/dbconnector/mssql_connector.py
+++ b/modelbaker/dbconnector/mssql_connector.py
@@ -993,7 +993,11 @@ def rename_dataset(self, tid, datasetname):
 
     def get_topics_info(self):
         result = {}
-        if self.schema and self._table_exists("t_ili2db_classname"):
+        if (
+            self.schema
+            and self._table_exists("t_ili2db_classname")
+            and self._table_exists(METAATTRS_TABLE)
+        ):
             cur = self.conn.cursor()
             cur.execute(
                 """
diff --git a/modelbaker/dbconnector/pg_connector.py b/modelbaker/dbconnector/pg_connector.py
index e3df395..80f8c37 100644
--- a/modelbaker/dbconnector/pg_connector.py
+++ b/modelbaker/dbconnector/pg_connector.py
@@ -1076,7 +1076,11 @@ def rename_dataset(self, tid, datasetname):
         return False, self.tr('Could not rename dataset "{}".').format(datasetname)
 
     def get_topics_info(self):
-        if self.schema and self._table_exists("t_ili2db_classname"):
+        if (
+            self.schema
+            and self._table_exists("t_ili2db_classname")
+            and self._table_exists(PG_METAATTRS_TABLE)
+        ):
             cur = self.conn.cursor(cursor_factory=psycopg2.extras.DictCursor)
             cur.execute(
                 sql.SQL(
diff --git a/modelbaker/ilitoppingmaker/ilitarget.py b/modelbaker/ilitoppingmaker/ilitarget.py
index dd038c4..51bac2c 100644
--- a/modelbaker/ilitoppingmaker/ilitarget.py
+++ b/modelbaker/ilitoppingmaker/ilitarget.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 
 import datetime
 import os
+import pathlib
 
 from ..libs.toppingmaker import Target
 from ..libs.toppingmaker.utils import slugify
@@ -62,7 +63,9 @@ def ilidata_path_resolver(target, name, type):
         _, relative_filedir_path = target.filedir_path(type)
 
         id = target.unique_id_in_target_scope(target, slugify(f"{type}_{name}_001"))
-        path = os.path.join(relative_filedir_path, name)
+        path = pathlib.PureWindowsPath(
+            os.path.join(relative_filedir_path, name)
+        ).as_posix()
         type = type
         toppingfile = {"id": id, "path": path, "type": type}
         target.toppingfileinfo_list.append(toppingfile)
diff --git a/modelbaker/iliwrapper/ilicache.py b/modelbaker/iliwrapper/ilicache.py
index b7d2a47..01c961a 100644
--- a/modelbaker/iliwrapper/ilicache.py
+++ b/modelbaker/iliwrapper/ilicache.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import glob
 import logging
 import os
+import pathlib
 import re
 import shutil
 import urllib.parse
@@ -685,20 +686,21 @@ def download_file(self, netloc, url, file, dataset_id=None):
         file_url = self.file_url(url, file)
 
         if url is None or os.path.isdir(url):
-            file_path = file_url
+            file_path = os.path.normpath(file_url)
             # continue with the local file
-            if os.path.exists(file_url):
-                self.file_download_succeeded.emit(dataset_id, file_url)
+            if os.path.exists(file_path):
+                self.file_download_succeeded.emit(dataset_id, file_path)
             else:
                 self.file_download_failed.emit(
                     dataset_id,
-                    self.tr("Could not find local file  {}").format(file_url),
+                    self.tr("Could not find local file  {}").format(file_path),
                 )
         else:
-            file_path = os.path.join(self.CACHE_PATH, netloc, file)
+            file_path = os.path.normpath(os.path.join(self.CACHE_PATH, netloc, file))
             file_dir = os.path.dirname(file_path)
             os.makedirs(file_dir, exist_ok=True)
-
+            # in case there are backslashes in the url, remove them
+            file_url = pathlib.PureWindowsPath(file_url).as_posix()
             download_file(
                 file_url,
                 file_path,