diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/dcrt0.cc b/winsup/cygwin/dcrt0.cc
index 3bbee4d5a..6f4723bb0 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/dcrt0.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/dcrt0.cc
@@ -722,20 +722,23 @@ init_windows_system_directory ()
 	api_fatal ("can't find windows system directory");
       windows_system_directory[windows_system_directory_length++] = L'\\';
       windows_system_directory[windows_system_directory_length] = L'\0';
+      /* We need the Windows dir with NT prefix in path.cc.  Note that we
+	 don't append a backslash, because we need the dir without backslash
+	 for the environment. */
+      wcpcpy (windows_directory_buf, L"\\??\\");
+      windows_directory_length =
+	    GetSystemWindowsDirectoryW (windows_directory, MAX_PATH - 4);
+      RtlInitCountedUnicodeString (&windows_directory_path,
+	    windows_directory_buf,
+	    (windows_directory_length + 4) * sizeof (WCHAR));
 #ifdef __i386__
       system_wow64_directory_length =
-	GetSystemWow64DirectoryW (system_wow64_directory, MAX_PATH);
+	    GetSystemWow64DirectoryW (system_wow64_directory, MAX_PATH);
       if (system_wow64_directory_length)
 	{
 	  system_wow64_directory[system_wow64_directory_length++] = L'\\';
 	  system_wow64_directory[system_wow64_directory_length] = L'\0';
 	}
-      /* We need the Windows dir in path.cc. */
-      wcscpy (windows_directory, windows_system_directory);
-      windows_directory_length = windows_system_directory_length - 1;
-      windows_directory[windows_directory_length] = L'\0';
-      while (windows_directory[windows_directory_length - 1] != L'\\')
-	windows_directory[--windows_directory_length] = L'\0';
 #endif /* __i386__ */
     }
 }
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/fhandler_console.cc b/winsup/cygwin/fhandler_console.cc
index ebe89fc9f..b3eae6a5a 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/fhandler_console.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/fhandler_console.cc
@@ -112,12 +112,11 @@ beep ()
 	     L"Apps", L".Default", L".Default", L".Current", NULL);
   if (r.created ())
     {
-      PWCHAR buf = NULL;
-      UINT len = GetSystemWindowsDirectoryW (buf, 0) * sizeof (WCHAR);
-      buf = (PWCHAR) alloca (len += sizeof (ding));
-      UINT res = GetSystemWindowsDirectoryW (buf, len);
-      if (res && res <= len)
-	r.set_string (L"", wcscat (buf, ding));
+      tmp_pathbuf tp;
+
+      PWCHAR ding_path = tp.w_get ();
+      wcpcpy (wcpcpy (ding_path, windows_directory), ding);
+      r.set_string (L"", ding_path);
     }
   MessageBeep (MB_OK);
 }
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/globals.cc b/winsup/cygwin/globals.cc
index 0b9559ea7..d0c6046a5 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/globals.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/globals.cc
@@ -23,12 +23,12 @@ HMODULE NO_COPY hntdll;
 int NO_COPY sigExeced;
 WCHAR windows_system_directory[MAX_PATH];
 UINT windows_system_directory_length;
-#ifdef __i386__
 WCHAR system_wow64_directory[MAX_PATH];
 UINT system_wow64_directory_length;
-WCHAR windows_directory[MAX_PATH];
+WCHAR windows_directory_buf[MAX_PATH];
+PWCHAR windows_directory = windows_directory_buf + 4;
 UINT windows_directory_length;
-#endif /* __i386__ */
+UNICODE_STRING windows_directory_path;
 WCHAR global_progname[NT_MAX_PATH];
 
 /* program exit the program */
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/path.cc b/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
index b13377a48..dd7048486 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
@@ -3462,19 +3462,11 @@ restart:
 	 file than the final path.  Oh well... */
       if (!fs.is_remote_drive () && wincap.is_wow64 ())
 	{
-	  static UNICODE_STRING wpath;
-	  UNICODE_STRING udpath;
-
-	  /* Create UNICODE_STRING for Windows dir. */
-	  RtlInitCountedUnicodeString (&wpath, windows_directory,
-			windows_directory_length * sizeof (WCHAR));
-	  /* Create a UNICODE_STRING from incoming path, splitting
-	     off the leading "\\??\\" */
-	  RtlInitCountedUnicodeString (&udpath, upath.Buffer + 4,
-			upath.Length - 4 * sizeof (WCHAR));
-	  /* Are we below Windows dir?  Skip the check for inner
-	     symlinks. */
-	  if (RtlEqualUnicodePathPrefix (&udpath, &wpath, TRUE))
+	  /* windows_directory_path is stored without trailing backslash,
+	     so we have to check this explicitely. */
+	  if (RtlEqualUnicodePathPrefix (&upath, &windows_directory_path, TRUE)
+	      && upath.Buffer[windows_directory_path.Length / sizeof (WCHAR)]
+		 == L'\\')
 	    goto file_not_symlink;
 	}
 #endif /* __i386__ */
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/uinfo.cc b/winsup/cygwin/uinfo.cc
index c0a0f6163..6aae33c92 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/uinfo.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/uinfo.cc
@@ -564,18 +564,7 @@ const char *
 cygheap_user::env_systemroot (const char *name, size_t namelen)
 {
   if (!psystemroot)
-    {
-      int size = GetSystemWindowsDirectoryW (NULL, 0);
-      if (size > 0)
-	{
-	  WCHAR wsystemroot[size];
-	  size = GetSystemWindowsDirectoryW (wsystemroot, size);
-	  if (size > 0)
-	    sys_wcstombs_alloc (&psystemroot, HEAP_STR, wsystemroot);
-	}
-      if (size <= 0)
-	debug_printf ("GetSystemWindowsDirectoryW(), %E");
-    }
+    sys_wcstombs_alloc (&psystemroot, HEAP_STR, windows_directory);
   return psystemroot;
 }