diff --git a/scp.c b/scp.c
index 67997f2..e59a167 100644
--- a/scp.c
+++ b/scp.c
@@ -3082,6 +3082,10 @@ int start_process_io(char *exename, char **argv, char **envv,
 
 	ctr = 0;
 	cmdbuf[0] = '\0';
+        if (argv[0][0] != '\0' && argv[0][1] != ':') {
+                strcat(cmdbuf, w32_programdir());
+                strcat(cmdbuf, "\\");
+        }
 	while (argv[ctr]) {
 		strcat_s(cmdbuf, sizeof(cmdbuf), argv[ctr]);
 		strcat_s(cmdbuf, sizeof(cmdbuf), " ");
diff --git a/sftp.c b/sftp.c
index 980c519..5e17179 100644
--- a/sftp.c
+++ b/sftp.c
@@ -2219,6 +2219,11 @@ connect_to_server(char *path, char **args, int *in, int *out)
 		STARTUPINFO si = { 0 };
 
 		debug3("Generating ssh-client command...");
+                fullCmd[0] = '\0';
+                if (path[0] != '\0' && path[1] != ':') {
+                        strncat(fullCmd, w32_programdir(), MAX_PATH);
+                        strncat(fullCmd, "\\", MAX_PATH);
+                }
 		strncat(fullCmd, path, MAX_PATH);
 		for (i = 1; args[i]; i++)
 		{