diff --git a/src/tools/windeployqt/main.cpp b/src/tools/windeployqt/main.cpp
index 556a6341aa..6b788cf41f 100644
--- a/src/tools/windeployqt/main.cpp
+++ b/src/tools/windeployqt/main.cpp
@@ -1626,8 +1626,8 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     const QByteArray qtBinPath = QFile::encodeName(QDir::toNativeSeparators(QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath()));
     QByteArray path = qgetenv("PATH");
     if (!path.contains(qtBinPath)) { // QTBUG-39177, ensure Qt is in the path so that qt.conf is taken into account.
-        path += QDir::listSeparator().toLatin1();
-        path += qtBinPath;
+        path.prepend(QDir::listSeparator().toLatin1());
+        path.prepend(qtBinPath);
         qputenv("PATH", path);
     }