diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 821a203d..fb3a74b6 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -7974,6 +7974,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "bytesize",
  "chrono",
  "criterion",
+ "dunce",
  "enumset",
  "faster-hex",
  "flatbuffers",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b09e7730..948e1063 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ criterion = { version = "0.8", features = ["html_reports"] }
 crossbeam-queue = "0.3.12"
 datafusion = "51.0.0"
 derive_builder = "0.20.2"
+dunce = "1.0.5"
 enumset = "1.1.10"
 faster-hex = "0.10.0"
 flate2 = "1.1.5"
diff --git a/crates/ecstore/Cargo.toml b/crates/ecstore/Cargo.toml
index d4fe7d4c..aff30459 100644
--- a/crates/ecstore/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/ecstore/Cargo.toml
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ google-cloud-storage = { workspace = true }
 google-cloud-auth = { workspace = true }
 aws-config = { workspace = true }
 faster-hex = { workspace = true }
+dunce = { workspace = true }
 
 
 [dev-dependencies]
diff --git a/crates/ecstore/src/disk/local.rs b/crates/ecstore/src/disk/local.rs
index 09991fc5..6aadb533 100644
--- a/crates/ecstore/src/disk/local.rs
+++ b/crates/ecstore/src/disk/local.rs
@@ -129,7 +129,8 @@ impl LocalDisk {
     pub async fn new(ep: &Endpoint, cleanup: bool) -> Result<Self> {
         debug!("Creating local disk");
         // Use optimized path resolution instead of absolutize() for better performance
-        let root = match std::fs::canonicalize(ep.get_file_path()) {
+        // Use dunce::canonicalize instead of std::fs::canonicalize to avoid UNC paths on Windows
+        let root = match dunce::canonicalize(ep.get_file_path()) {
             Ok(path) => path,
             Err(e) => {
                 if e.kind() == ErrorKind::NotFound {