diff --git a/common/cmdlib.c b/common/cmdlib.c
index bc4d3a08..fc38bb3b 100644
--- a/common/cmdlib.c
+++ b/common/cmdlib.c
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ ExpandPath(char *path)
 {
     static char full[1024];
 
-    if (!qdir)
+    if (!qdir[0])
 	Error("ExpandPath called without qdir set");
     if (path[0] == '/' || path[0] == '\\' || path[1] == ':')
 	return path;