diff --git a/src/shared/util.c b/src/shared/util.c
index 65a09d90d..7aa3d0271 100644
--- a/src/shared/util.c
+++ b/src/shared/util.c
@@ -5701,7 +5701,10 @@ static int search_and_fopen_internal(const char *path, const char *mode, const c
                 _cleanup_free_ char *p = NULL;
                 FILE *f;
 
-                p = strjoin(*i, "/", path, NULL);
+                if (root)
+                        p = strjoin(root, *i, "/", path, NULL);
+                else
+                        p = strjoin(*i, "/", path, NULL);
                 if (!p)
                         return -ENOMEM;