diff --git a/setup.c b/setup.c
index 6cf909463d..2e3248a0c4 100644
--- a/setup.c
+++ b/setup.c
@@ -581,6 +581,8 @@ const char *setup_git_directory(void)
 		if (retval && chdir(retval))
 			die ("Could not jump back into original cwd");
 		rel = get_relative_cwd(buffer, PATH_MAX, get_git_work_tree());
+		if (rel && *rel && chdir(get_git_work_tree()))
+			die ("Could not jump to working directory");
 		return rel && *rel ? strcat(rel, "/") : NULL;
 	}