diff --git a/src/nix/flake.cc b/src/nix/flake.cc
index 55aa8971e..7189689cc 100644
--- a/src/nix/flake.cc
+++ b/src/nix/flake.cc
@@ -938,7 +938,7 @@ struct CmdFlakeInitCommon : virtual Args, EvalCommand
                         }
                         continue;
                     } else
-                        createSymlink(target, to2);
+                        createSymlink(target, os_string_to_string(PathViewNG { to2 }));
                 }
                 else
                     throw Error("file '%s' has unsupported type", from2);