diff --git a/java/idea-ui/src/com/intellij/jarRepository/JarRepositoryManager.java b/java/idea-ui/src/com/intellij/jarRepository/JarRepositoryManager.java
index f6331553bc89..6859a652fc5c 100644
--- a/java/idea-ui/src/com/intellij/jarRepository/JarRepositoryManager.java
+++ b/java/idea-ui/src/com/intellij/jarRepository/JarRepositoryManager.java
@@ -148,7 +148,12 @@ public class JarRepositoryManager {
     if (!MAVEN_REPOSITORY_MACRO.equals(expanded)) {
       repoPath = new File(expanded);
       if (repoPath.exists()) {
-        ourLocalRepositoryPath = repoPath;
+        try {
+          ourLocalRepositoryPath = repoPath.getCanonicalFile();
+        }
+        catch (IOException e) {
+          ourLocalRepositoryPath = repoPath;
+        }
         return repoPath;
       }
     }