diff --git a/scalar.c b/scalar.c
index cc4a1db08fab9e..bfc41aec1897e0 100644
--- a/scalar.c
+++ b/scalar.c
@@ -477,8 +477,13 @@ static char *default_cache_root(const char *root)
 {
 	const char *env;
 
-	if (is_unattended())
-		return xstrfmt("%s/.scalarCache", root);
+	if (is_unattended()) {
+		struct strbuf path = STRBUF_INIT;
+		strbuf_addstr(&path, root);
+		strip_last_path_component(&path);
+		strbuf_addstr(&path, "/.scalarCache");
+		return strbuf_detach(&path, NULL);
+	}
 
 #ifdef WIN32
 	(void)env;
diff --git a/t/t9210-scalar.sh b/t/t9210-scalar.sh
index aadc397ead1fc4..826a3212252886 100755
--- a/t/t9210-scalar.sh
+++ b/t/t9210-scalar.sh
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ test_expect_success '`scalar clone` with GVFS-enabled server' '
 	cache_key="url_$(printf "%s" http://$HOST_PORT/ |
 		tr A-Z a-z |
 		test-tool sha1)" &&
-	echo "$(pwd)/using-gvfs/.scalarCache/$cache_key" >expect &&
+	echo "$(pwd)/.scalarCache/$cache_key" >expect &&
 	git -C using-gvfs/src config gvfs.sharedCache >actual &&
 	test_cmp expect actual &&