diff --git a/lib/core/common.py b/lib/core/common.py
index 77fc7bfa4..0159c53a0 100755
--- a/lib/core/common.py
+++ b/lib/core/common.py
@@ -1738,7 +1738,7 @@ def posixToNtSlashes(filepath):
     'C:\\\\Windows'
     """
 
-    return filepath.replace('/', '\\')
+    return filepath.replace('/', '\\') if filepath else filepath
 
 def ntToPosixSlashes(filepath):
     """
@@ -1749,7 +1749,7 @@ def ntToPosixSlashes(filepath):
     'C:/Windows'
     """
 
-    return filepath.replace('\\', '/')
+    return filepath.replace('\\', '/') if filepath else filepath
 
 def isHexEncodedString(subject):
     """
diff --git a/plugins/dbms/mysql/takeover.py b/plugins/dbms/mysql/takeover.py
index ebd7bdc03..9c02c7a68 100644
--- a/plugins/dbms/mysql/takeover.py
+++ b/plugins/dbms/mysql/takeover.py
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class Takeover(GenericTakeover):
                 else:
                     self.__plugindir = "%s/lib/mysql/plugin" % self.__basedir
 
-            self.__plugindir = ntToPosixSlashes(normalizePath(self.__plugindir))
+            self.__plugindir = ntToPosixSlashes(normalizePath(self.__plugindir)) or '.'
 
             self.udfRemoteFile = "%s/%s.%s" % (self.__plugindir, self.udfSharedLibName, self.udfSharedLibExt)
 
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ class Takeover(GenericTakeover):
 
             # NOTE: specifying the relative path as './udf.dll'
             # saves in @@datadir on both MySQL 4.1 and MySQL 5.0
-            self.__datadir = "."
+            self.__datadir = '.'
             self.__datadir = ntToPosixSlashes(normalizePath(self.__datadir))
 
             # The DLL can be in either C:\WINDOWS, C:\WINDOWS\system,