diff --git a/src/cli/rustup_mode.rs b/src/cli/rustup_mode.rs
index a5cd47b933..ad81610a91 100644
--- a/src/cli/rustup_mode.rs
+++ b/src/cli/rustup_mode.rs
@@ -1007,7 +1007,7 @@ fn update(cfg: &mut Cfg, m: &ArgMatches) -> Result<utils::ExitCode> {
     } else {
         common::update_all_channels(cfg, self_update, m.get_flag("force"))?;
         info!("cleaning up downloads & tmp directories");
-        utils::delete_dir_contents(&cfg.download_dir);
+        utils::delete_dir_contents_following_links(&cfg.download_dir);
         cfg.temp_cfg.clean();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/dist/temp.rs b/src/dist/temp.rs
index 8c8a9b3b99..e5eb54b1e5 100644
--- a/src/dist/temp.rs
+++ b/src/dist/temp.rs
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ impl Cfg {
     }
 
     pub(crate) fn clean(&self) {
-        utils::delete_dir_contents(&self.root_directory);
+        utils::delete_dir_contents_following_links(&self.root_directory);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/utils/utils.rs b/src/utils/utils.rs
index 44764255fd..e2ad7c0ba8 100644
--- a/src/utils/utils.rs
+++ b/src/utils/utils.rs
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ where
     })
 }
 
-pub(crate) fn delete_dir_contents(dir_path: &Path) {
+pub(crate) fn delete_dir_contents_following_links(dir_path: &Path) {
     use remove_dir_all::RemoveDir;
 
     match raw::open_dir_following_links(dir_path).and_then(|mut p| p.remove_dir_contents(None)) {