diff --git a/mkwin/Cargo.toml b/mkwin/Cargo.toml
index 7124133..7743070 100644
--- a/mkwin/Cargo.toml
+++ b/mkwin/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "mkwin"
-version = "0.0.1"
+version = "0.0.2"
 edition = "2021"
 
 [dependencies]
diff --git a/mkwin/src/error.rs b/mkwin/src/error.rs
index 36aca2a..796547a 100644
--- a/mkwin/src/error.rs
+++ b/mkwin/src/error.rs
@@ -8,4 +8,9 @@ pub fn missing_target() {
 	exit(1);
 }
 
+///	failed to canonicalize target path; code 2
+pub fn canonicalize_fail(target: String) {
+	println!("mkwin: failed to canonicalze '{target}'--does the file exist?");
+	exit(2);
+}
 
diff --git a/mkwin/src/flag.rs b/mkwin/src/flag.rs
index 9165d3b..39ebb0b 100644
--- a/mkwin/src/flag.rs
+++ b/mkwin/src/flag.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 //!	constants for flag arguments
 
 pub const HELP:			[&str;2]	= ["-h", "--help"];
-pub const PATH_CONVERT:	[&str;2]	= [ "--pc", "--path-convert" ];
+pub const PATH_CONVERT:	&str		= "--pc";
 pub const QUIET:		[&str;2]	= ["-q", "--quiet"];
 
diff --git a/mkwin/src/main.rs b/mkwin/src/main.rs
index 79e9661..e9d5b72 100644
--- a/mkwin/src/main.rs
+++ b/mkwin/src/main.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use std::path::Path;
 
 use pico_args::Arguments;
 
@@ -41,12 +42,19 @@ pub fn main() {
 	let quiet = args.contains(flag::QUIET);
 
 	//	get target executable
-	let i_target = args.subcommand().unwrap();
-	if i_target.is_none() {
+	let target: String;
+	if let Ok(Some(arg)) = args.subcommand() {
+		let path = Path::new(&arg);
+		if let Ok(path) = path.canonicalize() {
+			target = path.to_string_lossy().into();
+		} else {
+			error::canonicalize_fail(arg);
+			return;
+		}
+	} else {
 		error::missing_target();
+		return;
 	}
-	let target = i_target.unwrap();
-
 	//	construct output
 	print!("#!/usr/bin/bash\n# generated with: mkwin{arg_string}\n\n'{target}' ");
 
@@ -70,16 +78,16 @@ Quickly make bash scripts to run windows programs in WSL.
 usage: mkwin [flags] <target>
 
 args:
-   <target>                The target program the resulting script will run.
+   <target>         The target program the resulting script will run.
 
 flags:
-   -h, --help              Shows this help text.
-   --pc=<flags>,           The resulting script will use the 'path-convert'
-   --path-convert=<flags>  to convert arguments from UNIX to DOS, with the
-                           provided set of flags ('x' for no flags).
+   -h, --help       Shows this help text and exit.
 
-   -q, --quiet             The resulting script will run the target program
-                           in the background and with its outputs redirected
-                           to '/dev/null'.",
+   --pc=<flags>     The resulting script will use the 'path-convert' to convert
+                    arguments from UNIX to DOS, with the provided set of flags
+        			('x' for no flags).
+
+   -q, --quiet      The resulting script will run the target program in the
+                    background and with its outputs redirected to '/dev/null'.",
 env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION"));}