diff --git a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
index 82f6b8da2f..0e3244fceb 100644
--- a/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
+++ b/src/tmpfiles/tmpfiles.c
@@ -322,16 +322,7 @@ static int specifier_directory(
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
 
-        if (arg_root) {
-                _cleanup_free_ char *j = NULL;
-
-                j = path_join(arg_root, p);
-                if (!j)
-                        return -ENOMEM;
-
-                *ret = TAKE_PTR(j);
-        } else
-                *ret = TAKE_PTR(p);
+        *ret = TAKE_PTR(p);
 
         return 0;
 }
diff --git a/test/units/TEST-22-TMPFILES.15.sh b/test/units/TEST-22-TMPFILES.15.sh
index 14c26b8295..68c6c301bd 100755
--- a/test/units/TEST-22-TMPFILES.15.sh
+++ b/test/units/TEST-22-TMPFILES.15.sh
@@ -42,3 +42,15 @@ systemd-tmpfiles --create --root="$root" - <<EOF
 L     %h    - - - -
 EOF
 test "$(readlink "$dst")" = "$src"
+
+# Check that directory specifiers are not prefixed with --root twice.
+root='/tmp/L/3'
+rm -rf "$root"
+mkdir -p "$root"
+
+output="$(systemd-tmpfiles --create --dry-run --root="$root" - 2>&1 <<EOF
+d     %t/test    - - - -
+EOF
+)"
+[[ "$output" == *"Would create directory $root/run/test"* ]]
+[[ "$output" != *"$root$root"* ]]