diff --git a/crates/paths/src/paths.rs b/crates/paths/src/paths.rs
index 1fc6ce50e40bc9f2fcee41f606ac8c40bfc60b26..02275d8cbd26ab86435476c5adeaf81ec09a29e9 100644
--- a/crates/paths/src/paths.rs
+++ b/crates/paths/src/paths.rs
@@ -69,15 +69,10 @@ pub fn set_custom_data_dir(dir: &str) -> &'static PathBuf {
         panic!("set_custom_data_dir called after data_dir or config_dir was initialized");
     }
     CUSTOM_DATA_DIR.get_or_init(|| {
-        let mut path = PathBuf::from(dir);
-        if path.is_relative() && path.exists() {
-            let abs_path = path
-                .canonicalize()
-                .expect("failed to canonicalize custom data directory's path to an absolute path");
-            path = util::paths::SanitizedPath::new(&abs_path).into()
-        }
+        let path = PathBuf::from(dir);
         std::fs::create_dir_all(&path).expect("failed to create custom data directory");
-        path
+        path.canonicalize()
+            .expect("failed to canonicalize custom data directory's path to an absolute path")
     })
 }