diff --git a/src/core/kernel/init/CxbxKrnl.cpp b/src/core/kernel/init/CxbxKrnl.cpp
index e50b22f43..ee3b485ca 100644
--- a/src/core/kernel/init/CxbxKrnl.cpp
+++ b/src/core/kernel/init/CxbxKrnl.cpp
@@ -100,7 +100,11 @@ Xbe::Certificate *g_pCertificate = NULL;
 char szFilePath_CxbxReloaded_Exe[MAX_PATH] = { 0 };
 std::string g_DataFilePath;
 char szFilePath_EEPROM_bin[MAX_PATH] = { 0 };
-char szFilePath_Xbe[xbox::max_path*2] = { 0 }; // NOTE: LAUNCH_DATA_HEADER's szLaunchPath is xbox::max_path*2 = 520
+// Hybrid host/xbox path to the xbe.
+// A semicolon in the path indicates the Xbox mount point.
+// Replacing the ';' with '\' gives a regular host path.
+// NOTE: LAUNCH_DATA_HEADER's szLaunchPath is xbox::max_path*2 = 520
+char szFilePath_Xbe[xbox::max_path*2] = { 0 };
 
 Xbe* CxbxKrnl_Xbe = NULL;
 bool g_bIsChihiro = false;
@@ -613,7 +617,7 @@ static bool CxbxrKrnlXbeSystemSelector(int BootFlags, unsigned& reserved_systems
 	// Get title path :
 	std::string xbePath;
 	cli_config::GetValue(cli_config::load, &xbePath);
-	xbePath = std::filesystem::absolute(std::filesystem::path(xbePath)).string();
+	xbePath = std::filesystem::absolute(xbePath).string();
 
 	// NOTE: This is a safety to clean the file path for any malicious file path attempt.
 	// Might want to move this into a utility function.
@@ -630,7 +634,8 @@ static bool CxbxrKrnlXbeSystemSelector(int BootFlags, unsigned& reserved_systems
 
 	// Once clean up process is done, proceed set to global variable string.
 	strncpy(szFilePath_Xbe, xbePath.c_str(), xbox::max_path - 1);
-	std::replace(xbePath.begin(), xbePath.end(), ';', '/');
+	// Convert to host path by replacing special mount point character if present
+	std::replace(xbePath.begin(), xbePath.end(), ';', '\\');
 	// Load Xbe (this one will reside above WinMain's virtual_memory_placeholder)
 	std::filesystem::path xbeDirectory = std::filesystem::path(xbePath).parent_path();
 
diff --git a/src/core/kernel/support/EmuFile.cpp b/src/core/kernel/support/EmuFile.cpp
index 87523d37a..4bab36358 100644
--- a/src/core/kernel/support/EmuFile.cpp
+++ b/src/core/kernel/support/EmuFile.cpp
@@ -799,11 +799,6 @@ std::string CxbxConvertXboxToHostPath(const std::string_view XboxDevicePath)
 		char directoryPathBuffer[MAX_PATH];
 		GetFinalPathNameByHandle(rootDirectoryHandle, directoryPathBuffer, MAX_PATH, VOLUME_NAME_DOS);
 		XbePath = directoryPathBuffer + std::string("\\") + XbePath;
-
-		// Trim \\?\ from the output string, as we want the raw DOS path, not NT path
-		// We can do this always because GetFinalPathNameByHandle ALWAYS returns this format
-		// Without exception
-		XbePath.erase(0, 4);
 	}
 
 	return XbePath;