diff --git a/artiq-fast/conda-windows/binutils.nix b/artiq-fast/conda-windows/binutils.nix
index e425f51..049e7c4 100644
--- a/artiq-fast/conda-windows/binutils.nix
+++ b/artiq-fast/conda-windows/binutils.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ let
     name = "build-binutils";
     image = wfvm.makeWindowsImage { installCommands = with wfvm.layers; [ anaconda3 msys2 msys2-packages ]; };
     script = ''
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put ${libiconv} ${libiconv-filename}
+      ln -s ${libiconv} ${libiconv-filename}
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put ${libiconv-filename}
       ${wfvm.utils.win-exec}/bin/win-exec ".\Anaconda3\scripts\activate && conda create -n build ${libiconv-filename}"
 
       cat > meta.yaml << EOF
@@ -54,9 +55,10 @@ let
       EOF
 
       ${wfvm.utils.win-exec}/bin/win-exec "mkdir binutils"
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put meta.yaml ".\binutils"
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put bld.bat ".\binutils"
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put ${src} ".\src.tar.bz2"
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put meta.yaml binutils
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put bld.bat binutils
+      ln -s ${src} src.tar.bz2
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put src.tar.bz2 .
 
       ${wfvm.utils.win-exec}/bin/win-exec ".\Anaconda3\scripts\activate build && conda build --no-anaconda-upload --no-test binutils"
 
diff --git a/artiq-fast/conda-windows/llvm-or1k.nix b/artiq-fast/conda-windows/llvm-or1k.nix
index 217fbab..cbc882e 100644
--- a/artiq-fast/conda-windows/llvm-or1k.nix
+++ b/artiq-fast/conda-windows/llvm-or1k.nix
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ let
       EOF
 
       ${wfvm.utils.win-exec}/bin/win-exec "mkdir llvm-or1k"
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put meta.yaml ".\llvm-or1k"
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put bld.bat ".\llvm-or1k"
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put meta.yaml llvm-or1k
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put bld.bat llvm-or1k
       ln -s ${src} src
       tar chf src.tar src
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put src.tar ".\src.tar"
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put src.tar .
 
       ${wfvm.utils.win-exec}/bin/win-exec ".\Anaconda3\scripts\activate build && conda build --no-anaconda-upload --no-test llvm-or1k"
 
diff --git a/artiq-fast/conda-windows/llvmlite-artiq.nix b/artiq-fast/conda-windows/llvmlite-artiq.nix
index aa21b79..6fb8411 100644
--- a/artiq-fast/conda-windows/llvmlite-artiq.nix
+++ b/artiq-fast/conda-windows/llvmlite-artiq.nix
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ let
     name = "build-llvmlite-artiq";
     image = wfvm.makeWindowsImage { installCommands = with wfvm.layers; [ anaconda3 msys2 msys2-packages ]; };
     script = ''
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put "${conda-windows-llvm-or1k}/win-64/llvm-or1k-*.tar.bz2" ".\llvm-or1k.tar.bz2"
+      ln -s ${conda-windows-llvm-or1k}/win-64/llvm-or1k-*.tar.bz2 llvm-or1k.tar.bz2
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put llvm-or1k.tar.bz2 .
       ${wfvm.utils.win-exec}/bin/win-exec ".\Anaconda3\scripts\activate && conda create -n build llvm-or1k.tar.bz2"
 
       cat > meta.yaml << EOF
@@ -32,12 +33,12 @@ let
       EOF
 
       ${wfvm.utils.win-exec}/bin/win-exec "mkdir llvmlite-artiq"
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put meta.yaml ".\llvmlite-artiq"
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put bld.bat ".\llvmlite-artiq"
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put meta.yaml llvmlite-artiq
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put bld.bat llvmlite-artiq
       cp --no-preserve=mode,ownership -R ${src} src
       patch -d src -p1 < ${./llvmlite-msys.diff}
       tar chf src.tar src
-      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put src.tar ".\src.tar"
+      ${wfvm.utils.win-put}/bin/win-put src.tar .
 
       ${wfvm.utils.win-exec}/bin/win-exec ".\Anaconda3\scripts\activate build && conda build --no-anaconda-upload --no-test llvmlite-artiq"
 
diff --git a/artiq-fast/wfvm/layers/default.nix b/artiq-fast/wfvm/layers/default.nix
index 415a0bd..b79929e 100644
--- a/artiq-fast/wfvm/layers/default.nix
+++ b/artiq-fast/wfvm/layers/default.nix
@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@
         url = "https://repo.anaconda.com/archive/Anaconda3-2020.02-Windows-x86_64.exe";
         sha256 = "0n31l8l89jrjrbzbifxbjnr3g320ly9i4zfyqbf3l9blf4ygbhl3";
       };
-    in ''
+    in
+      ''
       ln -s ${Anaconda3} ./Anaconda3.exe
-      win-put Anaconda3.exe 'C:\Users\wfvm'
+      win-put Anaconda3.exe .
       echo Running Anaconda installer...
       win-exec 'start /wait "" .\Anaconda3.exe /S /D=%UserProfile%\Anaconda3'
       echo Anaconda installer finished
-    '';
+      '';
   };
   msys2 = {
     name = "MSYS2";
@@ -32,8 +33,8 @@
     in ''
       ln -s ${msys2} ./msys2.exe
       ln -s ${msys2-auto-install} ./auto-install.js
-      win-put msys2.exe 'C:\Users\wfvm'
-      win-put auto-install.js 'C:\Users\wfvm'
+      win-put msys2.exe .
+      win-put auto-install.js .
       echo Running MSYS2 installer...
       # work around MSYS2 installer bug that prevents it from closing at the end of unattended install
       expect -c 'set timeout 600; spawn win-exec ".\\msys2.exe --script auto-install.js -v InstallPrefix=C:\\msys64"; expect FinishedPageCallback { close }'
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@
     script = let
       msys-packages = import ./msys_packages.nix { inherit pkgs; };
       msys-packages-put = pkgs.lib.strings.concatStringsSep "\n"
-          (map (package: ''win-put ${package} 'C:\Users\wfvm\msyspackages' '') msys-packages);
+          (map (package: ''win-put ${package} 'msyspackages' '') msys-packages);
     in
       # Windows command line is so shitty it can't even do glob expansion. Why do people use Windows?
       ''
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@
       set PATH=%MSYS%\usr\bin;%MSYS%\mingw%ARCH%\bin;%PATH%
       bash -c "pacman -U --noconfirm C:/Users/wfvm/msyspackages/*"
       EOF
-      win-put installmsyspackages.bat 'C:\Users\wfvm'
+      win-put installmsyspackages.bat .
       win-exec installmsyspackages
       '';
   };
@@ -72,7 +73,7 @@
     in
       ''
       ln -s ${cmake} cmake.msi
-      win-put cmake.msi
+      win-put cmake.msi .
       win-exec "msiexec.exe /q /i cmake.msi ADD_CMAKE_TO_PATH=System"
       '';
   };
@@ -99,9 +100,16 @@
         buildPhase = "python $src/vsdownload.py --accept-license --dest $out";
       };
     in
+      # Yes, you need to write Windoze-side SFTP absolute paths like this or it won't work.
+      # Just the normal state of things on that cretinous OS.
       ''
-      win-put ${vs}/VC/Tools/MSVC 'C:\'
-      win-exec 'setx PATH C:\MSVC\14.26.28801\bin\Hostx64\x64;%PATH% /m'
+      win-exec "mkdir C:\VS"
+      win-exec "mkdir C:\VS\VC"
+      win-exec "mkdir C:\VS\VC\Tools"
+      win-exec "mkdir C:\VS\kits"
+      win-put ${vs}/VC/Tools/MSVC '/C:/VS/VC/Tools'
+      win-put ${vs}/kits/10 '/C:/VS/kits'
+      win-exec 'setx PATH "C:\VS\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.26.28801\bin\Hostx64\x64;C:\VS\kits\10\bin\10.0.18362.0\x64;%PATH%" /m'
       '';
   };
 }
diff --git a/artiq-fast/wfvm/utils.nix b/artiq-fast/wfvm/utils.nix
index bb6ce7b..667ad7e 100644
--- a/artiq-fast/wfvm/utils.nix
+++ b/artiq-fast/wfvm/utils.nix
@@ -53,14 +53,15 @@ rec {
   win-put = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "win-put" ''
     echo win-put $1 -\> $2
     ${pkgs.sshpass}/bin/sshpass -p1234 -- \
-      ${pkgs.openssh}/bin/scp -r -P 2022 ${sshOpts} \
-      $1 wfvm@localhost:$2
+      ${pkgs.openssh}/bin/sftp -r -P 2022 ${sshOpts} \
+      wfvm@localhost <<< "cd $2
+        put $1"
   '';
   win-get = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "win-get" ''
     echo win-get $1
     ${pkgs.sshpass}/bin/sshpass -p1234 -- \
-      ${pkgs.openssh}/bin/scp -r -T -P 2022 ${sshOpts} \
-      wfvm@localhost:$1 .
+      ${pkgs.openssh}/bin/sftp -r -P 2022 ${sshOpts} \
+      wfvm@localhost:$1
   '';
 
   wfvm-run = { name, image, script, display ? false, isolateNetwork ? true, forwardedPorts ? [] }: