diff --git a/jupyterhub/base/Dockerfile b/jupyterhub/base/Dockerfile
index e30654741eece03cd8906724ab45003b73aab3ff..6eab4a850369bc3d8f380f180c31e1bd3dc475eb 100755
--- a/jupyterhub/base/Dockerfile
+++ b/jupyterhub/base/Dockerfile
@@ -83,5 +83,5 @@ RUN mkdir -p /usr/local/venv && \
 
 RUN chmod -x /etc/update-motd.d/*
 
-WORKDIR "/"
+WORKDIR "/root"
 CMD [ "jupyterhub-singleuser" ]
diff --git a/jupyterhub/base/jupyter_notebook_config.py b/jupyterhub/base/jupyter_notebook_config.py
index 3a2a84764a92ab9b6b3e8f39b86071b47d854f6e..1578b9772116ee1c09669e5c01e19c680706e347 100755
--- a/jupyterhub/base/jupyter_notebook_config.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/base/jupyter_notebook_config.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 c.NotebookApp.allow_root = True
 c.NotebookApp.terminado_settings = {"shell_command": ["/bin/bash", "-l"]}
 c.MultiKernelManager.default_kernel_name = "default"
-c.NotebookApp.notebook_dir = "/root"
+c.NotebookApp.notebook_dir = "/"