diff --git a/pkg/minikube/assets/addons.go b/pkg/minikube/assets/addons.go
index 825de3b8e5bd..9e594e7ac1d5 100644
--- a/pkg/minikube/assets/addons.go
+++ b/pkg/minikube/assets/addons.go
@@ -267,13 +267,14 @@ func addMinikubeDirToAssets(basedir, vmpath string, assets *[]CopyableFile) erro
 			return errors.Wrapf(err, "checking if %s is directory", hostpath)
 		}
 		if !isDir {
-			if vmpath == "" {
+			vmdir := vmpath
+			if vmdir == "" {
 				rPath, err := filepath.Rel(basedir, hostpath)
 				if err != nil {
 					return errors.Wrap(err, "generating relative path")
 				}
 				rPath = filepath.Dir(rPath)
-				vmpath = filepath.Join("/", rPath)
+				vmdir = filepath.Join("/", rPath)
 			}
 			permString := fmt.Sprintf("%o", info.Mode().Perm())
 			// The conversion will strip the leading 0 if present, so add it back
@@ -282,7 +283,7 @@ func addMinikubeDirToAssets(basedir, vmpath string, assets *[]CopyableFile) erro
 				permString = fmt.Sprintf("0%s", permString)
 			}
 
-			f, err := NewFileAsset(hostpath, vmpath, filepath.Base(hostpath), permString)
+			f, err := NewFileAsset(hostpath, vmdir, filepath.Base(hostpath), permString)
 			if err != nil {
 				return errors.Wrapf(err, "creating file asset for %s", hostpath)
 			}