diff --git a/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs b/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
index 4831dd955b..8905724839 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/bin/pageserver.rs
@@ -64,10 +64,10 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
         .get_matches();
 
     let workdir = Path::new(arg_matches.value_of("workdir").unwrap_or(".zenith"));
-    let cfg_file_path = workdir
+    let workdir = workdir
         .canonicalize()
-        .with_context(|| format!("Error opening workdir '{}'", workdir.display()))?
-        .join("pageserver.toml");
+        .with_context(|| format!("Error opening workdir '{}'", workdir.display()))?;
+    let cfg_file_path = workdir.join("pageserver.toml");
 
     let init = arg_matches.is_present("init");
     let create_tenant = arg_matches.value_of("create-tenant");
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
         }
     }
     trace!("Resulting toml: {}", toml);
-    let conf = PageServerConf::parse_and_validate(&toml, workdir)
+    let conf = PageServerConf::parse_and_validate(&toml, &workdir)
         .context("Failed to parse pageserver configuration")?;
 
     // The configuration is all set up now. Turn it into a 'static
diff --git a/zenith/src/main.rs b/zenith/src/main.rs
index 02a99b1c2a..d73ee8a297 100644
--- a/zenith/src/main.rs
+++ b/zenith/src/main.rs
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ fn default_conf() -> String {
         r#"
 # Default built-in configuration, defined in main.rs
 [pageserver]
-listen_pg_addr = {pageserver_pg_addr}
-listen_http_addr = {pageserver_http_addr}
+listen_pg_addr = '{pageserver_pg_addr}'
+listen_http_addr = '{pageserver_http_addr}'
 auth_type = '{pageserver_auth_type}'
 
 [[safekeepers]]
diff --git a/zenith_utils/src/crashsafe_dir.rs b/zenith_utils/src/crashsafe_dir.rs
index fcb4ddcce3..a7eab73a43 100644
--- a/zenith_utils/src/crashsafe_dir.rs
+++ b/zenith_utils/src/crashsafe_dir.rs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ pub fn create_dir_all(path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> io::Result<()> {
             Ok(_) => {
                 return Err(io::Error::new(
                     io::ErrorKind::AlreadyExists,
-                    format!("non-directory found in path: {:?}", path),
+                    format!("non-directory found in path: {}", path.display()),
                 ));
             }
             Err(ref e) if e.kind() == io::ErrorKind::NotFound => {}
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ pub fn create_dir_all(path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> io::Result<()> {
             None => {
                 return Err(io::Error::new(
                     io::ErrorKind::InvalidInput,
-                    "can't find parent",
-                ))
+                    format!("can't find parent of path '{}'", path.display()).as_str(),
+                ));
             }
         }
     }