diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 98f1df6bd..88dad1e99 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -376,6 +376,18 @@ static void get_line_and_column_from_filename(gchar *filename, gint *line, gint
 }
 
 
+#ifdef G_OS_WIN32
+static void change_working_directory_on_windows(const gchar *install_dir)
+{
+	/* On Windows, change the working directory to the Geany installation path to not lock
+	 * the directory of a file passed as command line argument (see bug #2626124).
+	 * This also helps if plugins or other code uses relative paths to load
+	 * any additional resources (e.g. share/geany-plugins/...). */
+	win32_set_working_directory(install_dir);
+}
+#endif
+
+
 static void setup_paths(void)
 {
 	gchar *data_dir;
@@ -390,6 +402,8 @@ static void setup_paths(void)
 	data_dir = g_build_filename(install_dir, "data", NULL); /* e.g. C:\Program Files\geany\data */
 	doc_dir = g_build_filename(install_dir, "doc", NULL);
 
+	change_working_directory_on_windows(install_dir);
+
 	g_free(install_dir);
 #else
 	data_dir = g_build_filename(GEANY_DATADIR, "geany", NULL); /* e.g. /usr/share/geany */
@@ -1143,17 +1157,6 @@ gint main(gint argc, gchar **argv)
 	}
 #endif
 
-#ifdef G_OS_WIN32
-	{
-		gchar *dir;
-		/* On Windows, change the working directory to the Geany installation path to not lock
-		 * the directory of a file passed as command line argument (see bug #2626124). */
-		dir = win32_get_installation_dir();
-		win32_set_working_directory(dir);
-		g_free(dir);
-	}
-#endif
-
 	/* when we are really done with setting everything up and the main event loop is running,
 	 * tell other components, mainly plugins, that startup is complete */
 	g_idle_add_full(G_PRIORITY_LOW, send_startup_complete, NULL, NULL);