diff --git a/bindings/java/src/org/sleuthkit/datamodel/SleuthkitCase.java b/bindings/java/src/org/sleuthkit/datamodel/SleuthkitCase.java
index 68e42261931f05a27254d31263e7a09678f7e259..9b4596698744ba2b324f25d6a227c1a63e3921a6 100644
--- a/bindings/java/src/org/sleuthkit/datamodel/SleuthkitCase.java
+++ b/bindings/java/src/org/sleuthkit/datamodel/SleuthkitCase.java
@@ -2596,7 +2596,7 @@ public VirtualDirectory addVirtualDirectory(long parentId, String directoryName,
 			// Get the parent path.
 			String parentPath = getFileParentPath(parentId);
 			if (parentPath == null) {
-				parentPath = ""; //NON-NLS
+				parentPath = "/"; //NON-NLS
 			}
 			String parentName = getFileName(parentId);
 			if (parentName != null) {
@@ -2802,7 +2802,7 @@ public List<LayoutFile> addCarvedFiles(List<CarvedFileContainer> filesToAdd) thr
 				// get the parent path for the $CarvedFiles directory		
 				String parentPath = getFileParentPath(id);
 				if (parentPath == null) {
-					parentPath = ""; //NON-NLS
+					parentPath = "/"; //NON-NLS
 				}
 				String parentName = getFileName(id);
 				if (parentName != null) {
@@ -4005,7 +4005,7 @@ private List<AbstractFile> resultSetToAbstractFiles(ResultSet rs) throws SQLExce
 					TSK_DB_FILES_TYPE_ENUM atype = TSK_DB_FILES_TYPE_ENUM.valueOf(type);
 					String parentPath = rs.getString("parent_path"); //NON-NLS
 					if (parentPath == null) {
-						parentPath = ""; //NON-NLS
+						parentPath = "/"; //NON-NLS
 					}
 					LayoutFile lf = new LayoutFile(this, rs.getLong("obj_id"), //NON-NLS
 							rs.getString("name"), //NON-NLS