diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index cbe520585..0f35e441d 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1450,6 +1450,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "fs_extra"
+version = "1.3.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "42703706b716c37f96a77aea830392ad231f44c9e9a67872fa5548707e11b11c"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "fslock"
 version = "0.2.1"
@@ -3297,6 +3303,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "distribution-types",
  "dunce",
  "flate2",
+ "fs_extra",
  "futures",
  "http-cache-reqwest",
  "human_bytes",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 3e2c69964..eeeefefe4 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ distribution-filename = { git = "https://github.com/astral-sh/uv", rev = "65b17f
 distribution-types = { git = "https://github.com/astral-sh/uv", rev = "65b17f6e81125064ea04c5cfef685516ab660cf5" }
 dunce = "1.0.4"
 flate2 = "1.0.28"
+fs_extra = "1.3.0"
 futures = "0.3.30"
 http-cache-reqwest = "0.14.0"
 human_bytes = "0.4.3"
diff --git a/src/project/mod.rs b/src/project/mod.rs
index ab36fbe56..69a208fcd 100644
--- a/src/project/mod.rs
+++ b/src/project/mod.rs
@@ -559,23 +559,29 @@ pub fn find_project_manifest() -> Option<PathBuf> {
     })
 }
 
-/// Create a symlink from the default pixi directory to the custom target
-/// directory
+/// Create a symlink from the directory to the custom target directory
 #[cfg(not(windows))]
-fn create_symlink(pixi_dir_name: &Path, default_pixi_dir: &Path) {
-    if default_pixi_dir.exists() {
+fn create_symlink(target_dir: &Path, symlink_dir: &Path) {
+    if symlink_dir.exists() {
         tracing::debug!(
             "Symlink already exists at '{}', skipping creating symlink.",
-            default_pixi_dir.display()
+            symlink_dir.display()
         );
         return;
     }
-    symlink(pixi_dir_name, default_pixi_dir)
+    let parent = symlink_dir
+        .parent()
+        .expect("symlink dir should have parent");
+    fs_extra::dir::create_all(parent, false)
+        .map_err(|e| tracing::error!("Failed to create directory '{}': {}", parent.display(), e))
+        .ok();
+
+    symlink(target_dir, symlink_dir)
         .map_err(|e| {
             tracing::error!(
                 "Failed to create symlink from '{}' to '{}': {}",
-                pixi_dir_name.display(),
-                default_pixi_dir.display(),
+                target_dir.display(),
+                symlink_dir.display(),
                 e
             )
         })