diff --git a/dist/setup/index.js b/dist/setup/index.js
index c8becb4..af35fb6 100644
--- a/dist/setup/index.js
+++ b/dist/setup/index.js
@@ -88402,12 +88402,17 @@ function cacheWindowsDir(extPath, tool, version, arch) {
         for (const cachePath of actualCacheDirectoryPaths) {
             core.info(`Trying to link ${cachePath.defaultPath} to ${cachePath.actualPath}`);
             try {
+                if (!fs_1.default.existsSync(cachePath.defaultPath)) {
+                    core.info(`Default path ${cachePath.defaultPath} does not exist`);
+                    core.info(`Creating directory ${cachePath.defaultPath}`);
+                    fs_1.default.mkdirSync(cachePath.defaultPath, { recursive: true });
+                }
                 if (!fs_1.default.existsSync(cachePath.actualPath)) {
-                    core.info(`Creating directory ${cachePath.actualPath}`);
-                    fs_1.default.mkdirSync(path.dirname(cachePath.actualPath), { recursive: true });
+                    core.info(`Actual path ${cachePath.actualPath} does not exist. Safe to create symlink`);
                 }
                 else {
-                    core.info(`Directory ${cachePath.actualPath} already exists`);
+                    core.info(`Actual path ${cachePath.actualPath} already exists. Skipping symlink creation`);
+                    continue;
                 }
                 // check if the default path is a symlink
                 const isSymlink = fs_1.default.lstatSync(cachePath.defaultPath).isSymbolicLink();
diff --git a/src/installer.ts b/src/installer.ts
index 0554c17..235a640 100644
--- a/src/installer.ts
+++ b/src/installer.ts
@@ -236,11 +236,16 @@ async function cacheWindowsDir(
   for (const cachePath of actualCacheDirectoryPaths) {
     core.info(`Trying to link ${cachePath.defaultPath} to ${cachePath.actualPath}`);
     try {
+      if (!fs.existsSync(cachePath.defaultPath)) {
+        core.info(`Default path ${cachePath.defaultPath} does not exist`);
+        core.info(`Creating directory ${cachePath.defaultPath}`);
+        fs.mkdirSync(cachePath.defaultPath, {recursive: true});
+      }
       if (!fs.existsSync(cachePath.actualPath)) {
-        core.info(`Creating directory ${cachePath.actualPath}`);
-        fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(cachePath.actualPath), {recursive: true});
+        core.info(`Actual path ${cachePath.actualPath} does not exist. Safe to create symlink`);
       } else {
-        core.info(`Directory ${cachePath.actualPath} already exists`);
+        core.info(`Actual path ${cachePath.actualPath} already exists. Skipping symlink creation`);
+        continue;
       }
 
       // check if the default path is a symlink