diff --git a/msbuild/Xamarin.MacDev.Tasks.Core/PathUtils.cs b/msbuild/Xamarin.MacDev.Tasks.Core/PathUtils.cs
index 5b1ab83afb92..fca4aee97fa0 100644
--- a/msbuild/Xamarin.MacDev.Tasks.Core/PathUtils.cs
+++ b/msbuild/Xamarin.MacDev.Tasks.Core/PathUtils.cs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ public static string ResolveSymbolicLinks (string path)
 			try {
 				buffer = Marshal.AllocHGlobal (PATHMAX);
 				var result = realpath (path, buffer);
-				return result == IntPtr.Zero ? "" : Marshal.PtrToStringAuto (buffer);
+				return result == IntPtr.Zero ? path : Marshal.PtrToStringAuto (buffer);
 			} finally {
 				if (buffer != IntPtr.Zero)
 					Marshal.FreeHGlobal (buffer);
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ public static string ResolveSymbolicLinks (string path)
 
 		public static string AbsoluteToRelative (string baseDirectory, string absolute)
 		{
-			if (!Path.IsPathRooted (absolute) || string.IsNullOrEmpty (baseDirectory))
+			if (string.IsNullOrEmpty (baseDirectory))
 				return absolute;
 
 			// canonicalize the paths