diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 0a57aa5be0..697148c70e 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1485,6 +1485,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "dialoguer",
  "directories-next",
+ "dunce",
  "flate2",
  "hex",
  "humantime-serde",
diff --git a/src/canisters/frontend/ic-asset/src/sync.rs b/src/canisters/frontend/ic-asset/src/sync.rs
index 2962c2f75d..e892225c8a 100644
--- a/src/canisters/frontend/ic-asset/src/sync.rs
+++ b/src/canisters/frontend/ic-asset/src/sync.rs
@@ -239,7 +239,7 @@ pub(crate) fn gather_asset_descriptors(
         let entries = WalkDir::new(&dir)
             .into_iter()
             .filter_entry(|entry| {
-                if let Ok(canonical_path) = &entry.path().canonicalize() {
+                if let Ok(canonical_path) = &dfx_core::fs::canonicalize(entry.path()) {
                     let config = configuration
                         .get_asset_config(canonical_path)
                         .unwrap_or_default();
diff --git a/src/dfx-core/Cargo.toml b/src/dfx-core/Cargo.toml
index f1b9fef3f3..c55966067d 100644
--- a/src/dfx-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src/dfx-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ candid = { workspace = true, features = ["random"] }
 clap = { workspace = true, features = ["string"] }
 dialoguer = "0.10.0"
 directories-next.workspace = true
+dunce = "1.0"
 flate2 = { workspace = true, default-features = false, features = ["zlib-ng"] }
 hex = { workspace = true, features = ["serde"] }
 humantime-serde = "1.1.1"
diff --git a/src/dfx-core/src/fs/mod.rs b/src/dfx-core/src/fs/mod.rs
index 83eb3d412c..adddaf3d49 100644
--- a/src/dfx-core/src/fs/mod.rs
+++ b/src/dfx-core/src/fs/mod.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ use std::fs::{Metadata, Permissions, ReadDir};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 
 pub fn canonicalize(path: &Path) -> Result<PathBuf, FsError> {
-    path.canonicalize()
+    dunce::canonicalize(path)
         .map_err(|err| FsError::new(CanonicalizePathFailed(path.to_path_buf(), err)))
 }
 
diff --git a/src/dfx/src/lib/builders/mod.rs b/src/dfx/src/lib/builders/mod.rs
index 231192b513..1fe50f1cef 100644
--- a/src/dfx/src/lib/builders/mod.rs
+++ b/src/dfx/src/lib/builders/mod.rs
@@ -104,12 +104,13 @@ pub trait CanisterBuilder {
             .context("`output` must not be None")?;
 
         if generate_output_dir.exists() {
-            let generate_output_dir = generate_output_dir.canonicalize().with_context(|| {
-                format!(
-                    "Failed to canonicalize output dir {}.",
-                    generate_output_dir.to_string_lossy()
-                )
-            })?;
+            let generate_output_dir = dfx_core::fs::canonicalize(generate_output_dir)
+                .with_context(|| {
+                    format!(
+                        "Failed to canonicalize output dir {}.",
+                        generate_output_dir.to_string_lossy()
+                    )
+                })?;
             if !generate_output_dir.starts_with(info.get_workspace_root()) {
                 bail!(
                     "Directory at '{}' is outside the workspace root.",
@@ -321,9 +322,7 @@ fn ensure_trailing_newline(s: String) -> String {
 
 pub fn run_command(args: Vec<String>, vars: &[Env<'_>], cwd: &Path) -> DfxResult<()> {
     let (command_name, arguments) = args.split_first().unwrap();
-    let canonicalized = cwd
-        .join(command_name)
-        .canonicalize()
+    let canonicalized = dfx_core::fs::canonicalize(&cwd.join(command_name))
         .or_else(|_| which::which(command_name))
         .map_err(|_| anyhow!("Cannot find command or file {command_name}"))?;
     let mut cmd = Command::new(&canonicalized);
diff --git a/src/dfx/src/lib/canister_info/assets.rs b/src/dfx/src/lib/canister_info/assets.rs
index bde5259d7f..e00e675cbf 100644
--- a/src/dfx/src/lib/canister_info/assets.rs
+++ b/src/dfx/src/lib/canister_info/assets.rs
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ impl AssetsCanisterInfo {
         let input_root = &self.input_root;
         let source_paths: Vec<PathBuf> = source_paths.iter().map(|x| input_root.join(x)).collect();
         for source_path in &source_paths {
-            let canonical = source_path.canonicalize().with_context(|| {
+            let canonical = dfx_core::fs::canonicalize(source_path).with_context(|| {
                 format!(
                     "Unable to determine canonical location of asset source path {}",
                     source_path.to_string_lossy()
diff --git a/src/dfx/src/lib/operations/canister/install_canister.rs b/src/dfx/src/lib/operations/canister/install_canister.rs
index 1bd13cd42b..3f94596cec 100644
--- a/src/dfx/src/lib/operations/canister/install_canister.rs
+++ b/src/dfx/src/lib/operations/canister/install_canister.rs
@@ -414,9 +414,7 @@ fn run_post_install_task(
     let cwd = canister.get_workspace_root();
     let words = shell_words::split(task)
         .with_context(|| format!("Error interpreting post-install task `{task}`"))?;
-    let canonicalized = cwd
-        .join(&words[0])
-        .canonicalize()
+    let canonicalized = dfx_core::fs::canonicalize(&cwd.join(&words[0]))
         .or_else(|_| which::which(&words[0]))
         .map_err(|_| anyhow!("Cannot find command or file {}", &words[0]))?;
     let mut command = Command::new(&canonicalized);