diff --git a/qmake/generators/win32/msbuild_objectmodel.cpp b/qmake/generators/win32/msbuild_objectmodel.cpp
index 4f946001bf7..7702496f3cb 100644
--- a/qmake/generators/win32/msbuild_objectmodel.cpp
+++ b/qmake/generators/win32/msbuild_objectmodel.cpp
@@ -839,7 +839,7 @@ void VCXProjectWriter::write(XmlOutput &xml, VCProject &tool)
 
         // Find all icons referenced in the manifest
         QSet<QString> icons;
-        QFile manifestFile(manifest);
+        QFile manifestFile(Option::output_dir + QLatin1Char('/') + manifest);
         if (manifestFile.open(QFile::ReadOnly)) {
             const QString contents = manifestFile.readAll();
             QRegExp regexp("[\\\\/a-zA-Z0-9_\\-\\!]*\\.(png|jpg|jpeg)");