diff --git a/shared/nm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h b/shared/nm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
index 5b56713bcd..9f75c7f811 100644
--- a/shared/nm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
+++ b/shared/nm-glib-aux/nm-shared-utils.h
@@ -1346,18 +1346,6 @@ int nm_utils_fd_read_loop_exact (int fd, void *buf, size_t nbytes, bool do_poll)
 
 /*****************************************************************************/
 
-static inline const char *
-nm_utils_dbus_normalize_object_path (const char *path)
-{
-	/* D-Bus does not allow an empty object path. Hence, whenever we mean NULL / no-object
-	 * on D-Bus, it's path is actually "/".
-	 *
-	 * Normalize that away, and return %NULL in that case. */
-	if (path && path[0] == '/' && path[1] == '\0')
-		return NULL;
-	return path;
-}
-
 #define NM_DEFINE_GDBUS_ARG_INFO_FULL(name_, ...) \
 	((GDBusArgInfo *) (&((const GDBusArgInfo) { \
 		.ref_count = -1, \
diff --git a/src/nm-active-connection.c b/src/nm-active-connection.c
index 7b5053a5b6..3b120d7845 100644
--- a/src/nm-active-connection.c
+++ b/src/nm-active-connection.c
@@ -1398,7 +1398,7 @@ set_property (GObject *object, guint prop_id,
 	case PROP_SPECIFIC_OBJECT:
 		/* construct-only */
 		tmp = g_value_get_string (value);
-		tmp = nm_utils_dbus_normalize_object_path (tmp);
+		tmp = nm_dbus_path_not_empty (tmp);
 		priv->specific_object = g_strdup (tmp);
 		break;
 	case PROP_DEFAULT:
diff --git a/src/nm-manager.c b/src/nm-manager.c
index 4bd58da22e..e6dec4cdf1 100644
--- a/src/nm-manager.c
+++ b/src/nm-manager.c
@@ -5333,9 +5333,9 @@ impl_manager_activate_connection (NMDBusObject *obj,
 
 	g_variant_get (parameters, "(&o&o&o)", &connection_path, &device_path, &specific_object_path);
 
-	connection_path = nm_utils_dbus_normalize_object_path (connection_path);
-	specific_object_path = nm_utils_dbus_normalize_object_path (specific_object_path);
-	device_path = nm_utils_dbus_normalize_object_path (device_path);
+	connection_path = nm_dbus_path_not_empty (connection_path);
+	specific_object_path = nm_dbus_path_not_empty (specific_object_path);
+	device_path = nm_dbus_path_not_empty (device_path);
 
 	/* If the connection path is given and valid, that connection is activated.
 	 * Otherwise the "best" connection for the device is chosen and activated,
@@ -5623,8 +5623,8 @@ impl_manager_add_and_activate_connection (NMDBusObject *obj,
 		}
 	}
 
-	specific_object_path = nm_utils_dbus_normalize_object_path (specific_object_path);
-	device_path = nm_utils_dbus_normalize_object_path (device_path);
+	specific_object_path = nm_dbus_path_not_empty (specific_object_path);
+	device_path = nm_dbus_path_not_empty (device_path);
 
 	/* Try to create a new connection with the given settings.
 	 * We allow empty settings for AddAndActivateConnection(). In that case,
diff --git a/src/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c b/src/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
index dca434c7c9..cd575c86ee 100644
--- a/src/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
+++ b/src/supplicant/nm-supplicant-interface.c
@@ -1401,7 +1401,7 @@ props_changed_cb (GDBusProxy *proxy,
 	}
 
 	if (g_variant_lookup (changed_properties, "CurrentBSS", "&o", &s)) {
-		s = nm_utils_dbus_normalize_object_path (s);
+		s = nm_dbus_path_not_empty (s);
 		if (!nm_streq0 (s, priv->current_bss)) {
 			g_free (priv->current_bss);
 			priv->current_bss = g_strdup (s);