diff --git a/src/cargo/util/mod.rs b/src/cargo/util/mod.rs
index ccd6d59a4d1..56bfd38da74 100644
--- a/src/cargo/util/mod.rs
+++ b/src/cargo/util/mod.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 use std::fmt;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::time::Duration;
 
 pub use self::canonical_url::CanonicalUrl;
@@ -133,6 +134,77 @@ pub fn truncate_with_ellipsis(s: &str, max_width: usize) -> String {
     prefix
 }
 
+#[cfg(not(windows))]
+#[inline]
+pub fn try_canonicalize<P: AsRef<Path>>(path: P) -> std::io::Result<PathBuf> {
+    std::fs::canonicalize(&path)
+}
+
+#[cfg(windows)]
+#[inline]
+pub fn try_canonicalize<P: AsRef<Path>>(path: P) -> std::io::Result<PathBuf> {
+    use std::ffi::OsString;
+    use std::io::Error;
+    use std::os::windows::ffi::{OsStrExt, OsStringExt};
+    use std::{io::ErrorKind, ptr};
+    use windows_sys::Win32::Foundation::{GetLastError, SetLastError};
+    use windows_sys::Win32::Storage::FileSystem::GetFullPathNameW;
+
+    // On Windows `canonicalize` may fail, so we fall back to getting an absolute path.
+    std::fs::canonicalize(&path).or_else(|_| {
+        // Return an error if a file does not exist for better compatiblity with `canonicalize`
+        if !path.as_ref().try_exists()? {
+            return Err(Error::new(ErrorKind::NotFound, "the path was not found"));
+        }
+
+        let path = path.as_ref().as_os_str();
+        let mut path_u16 = Vec::with_capacity(path.len() + 1);
+        path_u16.extend(path.encode_wide());
+        if path_u16.iter().find(|c| **c == 0).is_some() {
+            return Err(Error::new(
+                ErrorKind::InvalidInput,
+                "strings passed to WinAPI cannot contain NULs",
+            ));
+        }
+        path_u16.push(0);
+
+        unsafe {
+            SetLastError(0);
+            let len = GetFullPathNameW(path_u16.as_ptr(), 0, &mut [] as *mut u16, ptr::null_mut());
+            if len == 0 {
+                let error = GetLastError();
+                if error != 0 {
+                    return Err(Error::from_raw_os_error(error as i32));
+                }
+            }
+            let mut result: Vec<u16> = std::iter::repeat(0).take(len as usize).collect();
+
+            let write_len = GetFullPathNameW(
+                path_u16.as_ptr(),
+                result.len().try_into().unwrap(),
+                result.as_mut_ptr().cast::<u16>(),
+                ptr::null_mut(),
+            );
+            if write_len == 0 {
+                let error = GetLastError();
+                if error != 0 {
+                    return Err(Error::from_raw_os_error(error as i32));
+                }
+            }
+            assert_eq!(
+                write_len + 1,
+                len,
+                "mismatching requested and written lengths for path {:?}",
+                path
+            );
+
+            Ok(PathBuf::from(OsString::from_wide(
+                &result[0..(write_len as usize)],
+            )))
+        }
+    })
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod test {
     use super::*;