diff --git a/src-tauri/src/paths.rs b/src-tauri/src/paths.rs
index 0ee0bf1..b8d8e6e 100644
--- a/src-tauri/src/paths.rs
+++ b/src-tauri/src/paths.rs
@@ -137,13 +137,14 @@ pub fn resolve_roots(
         }
     }
 
-    // Canonicalize + dedupe. canonicalize() can fail on UNC paths on some
-    // Windows builds; if so, fall back to the raw path so we don't drop hits.
+    // Dedup raw — DO NOT canonicalize. On Windows, canonicalize() rewrites
+    // `\\wsl$\...` to `\\?\UNC\wsl$\...` (NT-namespace form), and `Path`
+    // operations like `.parent()` and `.join()` get inconsistent on that
+    // prefix, breaking downstream lookups (e.g. tier detection).
     let mut canon: Vec<PathBuf> = Vec::new();
     for p in roots {
-        let c = std::fs::canonicalize(&p).unwrap_or(p);
-        if !canon.contains(&c) {
-            canon.push(c);
+        if !canon.contains(&p) {
+            canon.push(p);
         }
     }