diff --git a/launcher/minecraft/launch/LauncherPartLaunch.cpp b/launcher/minecraft/launch/LauncherPartLaunch.cpp
index aa94edb5d..dcfb3d148 100644
--- a/launcher/minecraft/launch/LauncherPartLaunch.cpp
+++ b/launcher/minecraft/launch/LauncherPartLaunch.cpp
@@ -74,16 +74,36 @@ QString shortPathName(const QString& file)
     auto input = file.toStdWString();
     std::wstring output;
     long length = GetShortPathNameW(input.c_str(), NULL, 0);
+    if (length == 0)
+        return {};
     // NOTE: this resizing might seem weird...
     // when GetShortPathNameW fails, it returns length including null character
     // when it succeeds, it returns length excluding null character
     // See: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa364989(v=vs.85).aspx
     output.resize(length);
-    GetShortPathNameW(input.c_str(), (LPWSTR)output.c_str(), length);
+    if (GetShortPathNameW(input.c_str(), (LPWSTR)output.c_str(), length) == 0)
+        return {};
     output.resize(length - 1);
     QString ret = QString::fromStdWString(output);
     return ret;
 }
+
+QString getShortPathName(const QString& file)
+{
+    auto path = shortPathName(file);
+    if (!path.isEmpty())
+        return path;
+    // the path can not be getted due to the file/folder not existing
+    // so create the parrent folder
+    // and assume that we can concatenate the short path of the parent folder with the file name
+    // usually the 8 bit characters are in the instance name not in the name of the end files/folders we need
+    FS::ensureFilePathExists(file);
+    QFileInfo a(file);
+    auto partialShortPath = shortPathName(a.path());
+    if (!partialShortPath.isEmpty())
+        return FS::PathCombine(partialShortPath, a.fileName());
+    return file;
+}
 #endif
 
 // if the string survives roundtrip through local 8bit encoding...
@@ -137,7 +157,7 @@ void LauncherPartLaunch::executeTask()
     auto natPath = minecraftInstance->getNativePath();
 #ifdef Q_OS_WIN
     if (!fitsInLocal8bit(natPath)) {
-        args << "-Djava.library.path=" + shortPathName(natPath);
+        args << "-Djava.library.path=" + getShortPathName(natPath);
     } else {
         args << "-Djava.library.path=" + natPath;
     }
@@ -150,7 +170,7 @@ void LauncherPartLaunch::executeTask()
     QStringList processed;
     for (auto& item : classPath) {
         if (!fitsInLocal8bit(item)) {
-            processed << shortPathName(item);
+            processed << getShortPathName(item);
         } else {
             processed << item;
         }