diff --git a/qga/main.c b/qga/main.c
index 3febf3b0fd..740f5f7303 100644
--- a/qga/main.c
+++ b/qga/main.c
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "channel.h"
 #include "qemu/bswap.h"
+#include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "qemu/help_option.h"
 #include "qemu/sockets.h"
 #include "qemu/systemd.h"
@@ -968,7 +969,7 @@ static void config_load(GAConfig *config)
 {
     GError *gerr = NULL;
     GKeyFile *keyfile;
-    const char *conf = g_getenv("QGA_CONF") ?: QGA_CONF_DEFAULT;
+    g_autofree char *conf = g_strdup(g_getenv("QGA_CONF")) ?: get_relocated_path(QGA_CONF_DEFAULT);
 
     /* read system config */
     keyfile = g_key_file_new();
@@ -1027,7 +1028,7 @@ end:
     if (gerr &&
         !(gerr->domain == G_FILE_ERROR && gerr->code == G_FILE_ERROR_NOENT)) {
         g_critical("error loading configuration from path: %s, %s",
-                   QGA_CONF_DEFAULT, gerr->message);
+                   conf, gerr->message);
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
     g_clear_error(&gerr);
@@ -1141,7 +1142,7 @@ static void config_parse(GAConfig *config, int argc, char **argv)
 #ifdef CONFIG_FSFREEZE
         case 'F':
             g_free(config->fsfreeze_hook);
-            config->fsfreeze_hook = g_strdup(optarg ?: QGA_FSFREEZE_HOOK_DEFAULT);
+            config->fsfreeze_hook = optarg ? g_strdup(optarg) : get_relocated_path(QGA_FSFREEZE_HOOK_DEFAULT);
             break;
 #endif
         case 't':
@@ -1463,6 +1464,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 
     config->log_level = G_LOG_LEVEL_ERROR | G_LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL;
 
+    qemu_init_exec_dir(argv[0]);
     qga_qmp_init_marshal(&ga_commands);
 
     init_dfl_pathnames();