diff --git a/src/common/file_util.cpp b/src/common/file_util.cpp
index 7403108078..d8812837ea 100644
--- a/src/common/file_util.cpp
+++ b/src/common/file_util.cpp
@@ -525,7 +525,7 @@ void CopyDir(const std::string& source_path, const std::string& dest_path) {
 #endif
 }
 
-std::string GetCurrentDir() {
+std::optional<std::string> GetCurrentDir() {
 // Get the current working directory (getcwd uses malloc)
 #ifdef _WIN32
     wchar_t* dir;
@@ -535,7 +535,7 @@ std::string GetCurrentDir() {
     if (!(dir = getcwd(nullptr, 0))) {
 #endif
         LOG_ERROR(Common_Filesystem, "GetCurrentDirectory failed: {}", GetLastErrorMsg());
-        return nullptr;
+        return {};
     }
 #ifdef _WIN32
     std::string strDir = Common::UTF16ToUTF8(dir);
diff --git a/src/common/file_util.h b/src/common/file_util.h
index c325f5b498..cde7ddf2d1 100644
--- a/src/common/file_util.h
+++ b/src/common/file_util.h
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <fstream>
 #include <functional>
 #include <limits>
+#include <optional>
 #include <string>
 #include <string_view>
 #include <type_traits>
@@ -118,7 +119,7 @@ u64 ScanDirectoryTree(const std::string& directory, FSTEntry& parent_entry,
 bool DeleteDirRecursively(const std::string& directory, unsigned int recursion = 256);
 
 // Returns the current directory
-std::string GetCurrentDir();
+std::optional<std::string> GetCurrentDir();
 
 // Create directory and copy contents (does not overwrite existing files)
 void CopyDir(const std::string& source_path, const std::string& dest_path);