diff --git a/src/lib-config/write.c b/src/lib-config/write.c
index 255d79c0..b8ef6156 100644
--- a/src/lib-config/write.c
+++ b/src/lib-config/write.c
@@ -302,6 +302,7 @@ int config_write(CONFIG_REC *rec, const char *fname, int create_mode)
 	int ret;
 	int fd;
 	int save_errno;
+	const char *base_name;
 	char *tmp_name = NULL;
 	char *dest_name = NULL;
 
@@ -309,12 +310,20 @@ int config_write(CONFIG_REC *rec, const char *fname, int create_mode)
         g_return_val_if_fail(fname != NULL || rec->fname != NULL, -1);
         g_return_val_if_fail(create_mode != -1 || rec->create_mode != -1, -1);
 
+	base_name = fname != NULL ? fname : rec->fname;
+
 	/* expand all symlinks; else we may replace a symlink with a regular file */
-	dest_name = realpath(fname != NULL ? fname : rec->fname, NULL);
+	dest_name = realpath(base_name, NULL);
+
 	if (dest_name == NULL) {
-		config_error(rec, g_strerror(errno));
-		ret = -1;
-		goto out;
+		if (errno == ENOENT) {
+			dest_name = g_strdup(base_name);
+			errno = 0;
+		} else {
+			config_error(rec, g_strerror(errno));
+			ret = -1;
+			goto out;
+		}
 	}
 
 	tmp_name = g_strdup_printf("%s.XXXXXX", dest_name);