diff --git a/lib/vagrant/downloaders/file.rb b/lib/vagrant/downloaders/file.rb
index 40ef2db0d..0f54c5ec1 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/downloaders/file.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/downloaders/file.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ module Vagrant
       end
 
       def prepare(source_url)
-        raise Errors::DownloaderFileDoesntExist if !::File.file?(source_url)
+        raise Errors::DownloaderFileDoesntExist if !::File.file?(::File.expand_path(source_url))
       end
 
       def download!(source_url, destination_file)