diff --git a/src/internal/toksvc_open_impl.c b/src/internal/toksvc_open_impl.c
index 030501a..b267142 100644
--- a/src/internal/toksvc_open_impl.c
+++ b/src/internal/toksvc_open_impl.c
@@ -72,7 +72,9 @@ static int32_t toks_open(
 	nt_unicode_conversion_params_utf8_to_utf16	params = {0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0};
 	wchar16_t					buffer[4096];
 	wchar16_t *					wch;
-	size_t						nbytes;
+	wchar16_t *					mark;
+	wchar16_t *					cap;
+	uint16_t					nbytes;
 	uint32_t					access;
 	nt_large_integer				alloc_size;
 
@@ -86,22 +88,27 @@ static int32_t toks_open(
 		return status;
 
 	/* convenience */
-	for (wch=buffer, nbytes=params.bytes_written; nbytes; ) {
+	if ((mark = buffer) && (nbytes = params.bytes_written)) {
+		if (mark[0] == '/') {
+			mark++;
+			nbytes -= sizeof(uint16_t);
+		} else if (mark[0] == '\\') {
+			hat = 0;
+		}
+	}
+
+	for (wch=mark,cap=&wch[nbytes/sizeof(uint16_t)]; wch<cap; wch++)
 		if (*wch == '/')
 			*wch = '\\';
 
-		nbytes -= sizeof(wchar16_t);
-		wch++;
-	}
-
 	/* path */
 	path.maxlen = 0;
-	path.strlen = (uint16_t)params.bytes_written;
-	path.buffer = buffer;
+	path.strlen = nbytes;
+	path.buffer = mark;
 
 	/* oa */
 	oa.len      = sizeof(nt_oa);
-	oa.root_dir = (buffer[0]=='\\') ? 0 : hat;
+	oa.root_dir = hat;
 	oa.obj_name = &path;
 	oa.obj_attr = fprivate ? 0 : NT_OBJ_INHERIT;
 	oa.sec_desc = sd;