diff --git a/frontend/frontend.c b/frontend/frontend.c
index dadd537284..46316caebc 100644
--- a/frontend/frontend.c
+++ b/frontend/frontend.c
@@ -153,6 +153,10 @@ static void check_defaults_dirs(void)
       path_mkdir(g_defaults.content_history_dir);
    if (*g_defaults.extraction_dir)
       path_mkdir(g_defaults.extraction_dir);
+   if (*g_defaults.database_dir)
+      path_mkdir(g_defaults.database_dir);
+   if (*g_defaults.cursor_dir)
+      path_mkdir(g_defaults.cursor_dir);
 }
 
 static void history_playlist_push(content_playlist_t *playlist,
diff --git a/general.h b/general.h
index 712641e9d9..b7d7ca71cd 100644
--- a/general.h
+++ b/general.h
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ struct defaults
    char playlist_dir[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
    char content_history_dir[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
    char extraction_dir[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+   char database_dir[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
+   char cursor_dir[PATH_MAX_LENGTH];
 
    struct
    {
diff --git a/settings.c b/settings.c
index 0d2192cfff..5604d75d0e 100644
--- a/settings.c
+++ b/settings.c
@@ -641,6 +641,12 @@ static void config_set_defaults(void)
    if (*g_defaults.core_path)
       strlcpy(g_settings.libretro, g_defaults.core_path,
             sizeof(g_settings.libretro));
+   if (*g_defaults.database_dir)
+      strlcpy(g_settings.content_database, g_defaults.database_dir,
+            sizeof(g_settings.content_database));
+   if (*g_defaults.cursor_dir)
+      strlcpy(g_settings.cursor_directory, g_defaults.cursor_dir,
+            sizeof(g_settings.cursor_directory));
    if (*g_defaults.core_info_dir)
       fill_pathname_expand_special(g_settings.libretro_info_path,
             g_defaults.core_info_dir, sizeof(g_settings.libretro_info_path));