diff --git a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
index b3ff4e86fb0..75007a59c51 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/gci/configure-helper.sh
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ function setup-os-params {
   # Reset core_pattern. On GCI, the default core_pattern pipes the core dumps to
   # /sbin/crash_reporter which is more restrictive in saving crash dumps. So for
   # now, set a generic core_pattern that users can work with.
-  echo "core.%e.%p.%t" > /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern
+  echo "/core.%e.%p.%t" > /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern
 }
 
 # secure_random generates a secure random string of bytes. This function accepts