diff --git a/node/server.js b/node/server.js
index 461e82693..8c70e075d 100644
--- a/node/server.js
+++ b/node/server.js
@@ -45,8 +45,9 @@ var socketIORouter;
 var version = "";
 try
 {
-  var ref = fs.readFileSync("../.git/HEAD", "utf-8");
-  var refPath = "../.git/" + ref.substring(5, ref.indexOf("\n"));
+  var rootPath = path.normalize(__dirname + "/../")
+  var ref = fs.readFileSync(rootPath + ".git/HEAD", "utf-8");
+  var refPath = rootPath + ".git/" + ref.substring(5, ref.indexOf("\n"));
   version = fs.readFileSync(refPath, "utf-8");
   version = version.substring(0, 7);
   console.log("Your Etherpad Lite git version is " + version);
diff --git a/node/utils/Minify.js b/node/utils/Minify.js
index fd1dd0793..7771fca36 100644
--- a/node/utils/Minify.js
+++ b/node/utils/Minify.js
@@ -58,7 +58,9 @@ exports.minifyJS = function(req, res, jsFilename)
   {
     throw new Error("there is no profile for creating " + name);
   }
-  
+
+  var rootPath = path.normalize(__dirname + "/../../" );
+
   //minifying is enabled
   if(settings.minify)
   {
@@ -70,7 +72,7 @@ exports.minifyJS = function(req, res, jsFilename)
       //find out the highest modification date
       function(callback)
       {        
-        var folders2check = ["../static/css","../static/js"];
+        var folders2check = [rootPath + "static/css", rootPath + "static/js"];
         
         //go trough this two folders
         async.forEach(folders2check, function(path, callback)
@@ -109,7 +111,7 @@ exports.minifyJS = function(req, res, jsFilename)
       function(callback)
       {
         //check the modification time of the minified js
-        fs.stat("../var/minified_" + jsFilename, function(err, stats)
+        fs.stat(rootPath + "var/minified_" + jsFilename, function(err, stats)
         {
           if(err && err.code != "ENOENT")
           {
@@ -134,7 +136,7 @@ exports.minifyJS = function(req, res, jsFilename)
       {
         async.forEach(jsFiles, function (item, callback)
         {
-          fs.readFile("../static/js/" + item, "utf-8", function(err, data)
+          fs.readFile(rootPath + "static/js/" + item, "utf-8", function(err, data)
           {            
             if(ERR(err, callback)) return;
             fileValues[item] = data;
@@ -228,7 +230,7 @@ exports.minifyJS = function(req, res, jsFilename)
           //write the results plain in a file
           function(callback)
           {
-            fs.writeFile("../var/minified_" + jsFilename, result, "utf8", callback);  
+            fs.writeFile(rootPath + "var/minified_" + jsFilename, result, "utf8", callback);  
           },
           //write the results compressed in a file
           function(callback)
@@ -242,7 +244,7 @@ exports.minifyJS = function(req, res, jsFilename)
               
                 if(ERR(err, callback)) return;
                 
-                fs.writeFile("../var/minified_" + jsFilename + ".gz", compressedResult, callback);  
+                fs.writeFile(rootPath + "var/minified_" + jsFilename + ".gz", compressedResult, callback);  
               });
             }
             //skip this step on windows
@@ -266,12 +268,12 @@ exports.minifyJS = function(req, res, jsFilename)
       var pathStr;
       if(gzipSupport && os.type().indexOf("Windows") == -1)
       {
-        pathStr = path.normalize(__dirname + "/../../var/minified_" + jsFilename + ".gz");
+        pathStr = path.normalize(rootPath + "var/minified_" + jsFilename + ".gz");
         res.header('Content-Encoding', 'gzip');
       }
       else
       {
-        pathStr = path.normalize(__dirname + "/../../var/minified_" + jsFilename );
+        pathStr = path.normalize(rootPath + "var/minified_" + jsFilename );
       }
       
       res.sendfile(pathStr, { maxAge: server.maxAge });
@@ -285,7 +287,7 @@ exports.minifyJS = function(req, res, jsFilename)
     //read all js files
     async.forEach(jsFiles, function (item, callback)
     {
-      fs.readFile("../static/js/" + item, "utf-8", function(err, data)
+      fs.readFile(rootPath + "static/js/" + item, "utf-8", function(err, data)
       {          
         if(ERR(err, callback)) return;  
         fileValues[item] = data;
diff --git a/node/utils/Settings.js b/node/utils/Settings.js
index 7ef809c91..fa9deaf25 100644
--- a/node/utils/Settings.js
+++ b/node/utils/Settings.js
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
  */
 
 var fs = require("fs");
+var path = require('path');
 
 /**
  * The IP ep-lite should listen to
@@ -74,7 +75,8 @@ exports.loglevel = "INFO";
 exports.httpAuth = null;
 
 //read the settings sync
-var settingsStr = fs.readFileSync("../settings.json").toString();
+var settingsPath = path.normalize(__dirname + "/../../");
+var settingsStr = fs.readFileSync(settingsPath + "settings.json").toString();
 
 //remove all comments
 settingsStr = settingsStr.replace(/\*([^*]|[\r\n]|(\*+([^*/]|[\r\n])))*\*+/gm,"").replace(/#.*/g,"").replace(/\/\/.*/g,"");