diff --git a/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp b/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
index 030fd6d1c6f..924030f58bf 100644
--- a/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
+++ b/source/test/intltest/intltest.cpp
@@ -347,8 +347,16 @@ IntlTest::pathnameInContext( char* fullname, int32_t maxsize, const char* relPat
     char  sepChar;
     const char inpSepChar = '|';
     
-    #ifdef _WIN32
-        mainDir = "";   //  . is part of the relative path
+    #if defined(_WIN32) || defined(WIN32) || defined(__OS2__) || defined(OS2)
+        char mainDirBuffer[200];
+        mainDir = getenv("ICU_DATA");
+        if(mainDir!=NULL) {
+            strcpy(mainDirBuffer, mainDir);
+            strcat(mainDirBuffer, "..\\..");
+        } else {
+            mainDirBuffer[0]='\0';
+        }
+        mainDir=mainDirBuffer;
         sepChar = '\\';
     #elif defined(_AIX) || defined(SOLARIS) || defined(LINUX) || defined(HPUX)
         mainDir = getenv("HOME");