diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
index 82b5194ee..68465663c 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2010-08-31  Corinna Vinschen  <corinna@vinschen.de>
+
+	* path.cc (normalize_posix_path): Preserve //./ and //?/ prefixes.
+	(path_conv::check): Allow access to root directory of native NT disk
+	devices.
+
 2010-08-31  Corinna Vinschen  <corinna@vinschen.de>
 
 	* include/cygwin/version.h: Bump DLL minor version number to 7.
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/path.cc b/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
index f0cdbee1c..fe81acd8b 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
@@ -267,6 +267,14 @@ normalize_posix_path (const char *src, char *dst, char *&tail)
     {
       *tail++ = *src++;
       ++dst_start;
+      /* Is that a //?/ or //./ prefix into the native NT namespace?
+	 If so, preserve it. */
+      if ((src[1] == '.' || src[1] == '?') && isslash (src[2]))
+	{
+	  *tail++ = *src++;
+	  *tail++ = *src++;
+	  dst_start += 2;
+	}
     }
 
   while (*src)
@@ -818,6 +826,13 @@ path_conv::check (const char *src, unsigned opt,
 	      full_path[2] = '\\';
 	      full_path[3] = '\0';
 	    }
+	  /* Otherwise, if the user requires a directory and explicitely
+	     specified a path into the native NT namespace, add the trailing
+	     backslash.  It's needed to access the root dir. */
+	  else if (need_directory
+		   && full_path[0] == '\\' && full_path[1] == '\\'
+		   && (full_path[2] == '.' || full_path[2] == '?'))
+	    strcat (full_path, "\\");
 
 	  /* If the incoming path was given in DOS notation, always treat
 	     it as caseinsensitive,noacl path.  This must be set before