diff --git a/src/Main.cxx b/src/Main.cxx
index 53162b33b..50d496f44 100644
--- a/src/Main.cxx
+++ b/src/Main.cxx
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 #include "config/Global.hxx"
 #include "config/Data.hxx"
 #include "config/Param.hxx"
+#include "config/Path.hxx"
 #include "config/Defaults.hxx"
 #include "config/Option.hxx"
 #include "config/Domain.hxx"
@@ -491,6 +492,7 @@ MainOrThrow(int argc, char *argv[])
 #endif
 
 	const auto &raw_config = GetGlobalConfig();
+	InitPathParser(raw_config);
 	const auto config = LoadConfig(raw_config);
 
 #ifdef ENABLE_DAEMON
diff --git a/src/config/Path.cxx b/src/config/Path.cxx
index 9775adf73..432cae0ef 100644
--- a/src/config/Path.cxx
+++ b/src/config/Path.cxx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2003-2017 The Music Player Daemon Project
+ * Copyright 2003-2018 The Music Player Daemon Project
  * http://www.musicpd.org
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 #include "config.h"
 #include "Path.hxx"
-#include "Global.hxx"
+#include "Data.hxx"
 #include "fs/AllocatedPath.hxx"
 #include "fs/Traits.hxx"
 #include "fs/Domain.hxx"
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 #ifndef _WIN32
 #include <pwd.h>
 
+static const char *configured_user = nullptr;
+
 /**
  * Determine a given user's home directory.
  */
@@ -66,14 +68,23 @@ GetHome()
 static AllocatedPath
 GetConfiguredHome()
 {
-	const char *user = config_get_string(ConfigOption::USER);
-	return user != nullptr
-		? GetHome(user)
+	return configured_user != nullptr
+		? GetHome(configured_user)
 		: GetHome();
 }
 
 #endif
 
+void
+InitPathParser(const ConfigData &config) noexcept
+{
+#ifdef _WIN32
+	(void)config;
+#else
+	configured_user = config.GetString(ConfigOption::USER);
+#endif
+}
+
 AllocatedPath
 ParsePath(const char *path)
 {
diff --git a/src/config/Path.hxx b/src/config/Path.hxx
index 2bc952680..d178d097a 100644
--- a/src/config/Path.hxx
+++ b/src/config/Path.hxx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2003-2017 The Music Player Daemon Project
+ * Copyright 2003-2018 The Music Player Daemon Project
  * http://www.musicpd.org
  *
  * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -20,8 +20,12 @@
 #ifndef MPD_CONFIG_PATH_HXX
 #define MPD_CONFIG_PATH_HXX
 
+struct ConfigData;
 class AllocatedPath;
 
+void
+InitPathParser(const ConfigData &config) noexcept;
+
 /**
  * Throws #std::runtime_error on error.
  */