diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2a961d9b2..94e94ac37 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ ifneq ($(BOARD_FILE)$(SCENARIO_FILE),)
   endif
 
   override BOARD := $(realpath $(BOARD_FILE))
-  override SCENARIO := $(realpath $(SCENARIO_FILE))
+  override SCENARIO := $(abspath $(SCENARIO_FILE))
 else
   # BOARD/SCENARIO pointing to XML files must be converted to absolute paths before being passed to hypervisor/Makefile
   # because paths relative to acrn-hypervisor/ are typically invalid when relative to acrn-hypervisor/Makefile
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ else
     override BOARD := $(realpath $(BOARD))
   endif
   ifneq ($(realpath $(SCENARIO)),)
-    override SCENARIO := $(realpath $(SCENARIO))
+    override SCENARIO := $(abspath $(SCENARIO))
   endif
 endif
 
diff --git a/hypervisor/scripts/makefile/config.mk b/hypervisor/scripts/makefile/config.mk
index d31e8a426..8caed0627 100644
--- a/hypervisor/scripts/makefile/config.mk
+++ b/hypervisor/scripts/makefile/config.mk
@@ -54,7 +54,12 @@ define determine_config =
 ifneq ($($(1)),)
   ifneq ($(realpath $($(1))),)
     override $(1)_FILE := $($(1))
-    override $(1) := $$(shell xmllint --xpath 'string(/acrn-config/@$(shell echo $(1) | tr A-Z a-z))' $$($(1)_FILE))
+    ifneq (SCENARIO, $(1))
+      override $(1) := $$(shell xmllint --xpath 'string(/acrn-config/@$(shell echo $(1) | tr A-Z a-z))' $$($(1)_FILE))
+    else
+      scenario_name := $(subst .xml,,$(notdir $($(1))))
+      override $(1) := $$(if $$(subst scenario,,$$(scenario_name)),$$(scenario_name),$(notdir $(abspath $(dir $($(1))))))
+    endif
   else
     override $(1)_FILE := $(HV_PREDEFINED_DATA_DIR)/$$(BOARD)/$$($(1)).xml
     ifeq ($$(realpath $$($(1)_FILE)),)
@@ -201,11 +206,11 @@ $(HV_BOARD_XML):
 $(HV_SCENARIO_XML):
 	@if [ ! -f $(HV_SCENARIO_XML) ]; then \
 	  if [ -f $(SCENARIO_FILE) ]; then \
-	    echo "Scenario XML is being fetched from $(realpath $(SCENARIO_FILE))"; \
+	    echo "Scenario XML is being fetched from $(abspath $(SCENARIO_FILE))"; \
 	    mkdir -p $(dir $(HV_SCENARIO_XML)); \
 	    python3 $(HV_CONFIG_TOOL_DIR)/scenario_config/default_populator.py $(SCENARIO_FILE) $(HV_SCENARIO_XML); \
 	    if [ -z $$(xmllint --xpath 'string(//@scenario)' $(HV_SCENARIO_XML)) ]; then \
-	      sed "s#<acrn-config#<acrn-config scenario=\"$(subst .xml,,$(notdir $(SCENARIO_FILE)))\"#g" -i $(HV_SCENARIO_XML); \
+	      sed "s#<acrn-config#<acrn-config scenario=\"$(SCENARIO)\"#g" -i $(HV_SCENARIO_XML); \
 	    fi; \
 	  else \
 	    echo "No pre-defined scenario available at $(SCENARIO_FILE)"; \