diff --git a/src/share/vm/memory/metaspaceShared.cpp b/src/share/vm/memory/metaspaceShared.cpp
--- a/src/share/vm/memory/metaspaceShared.cpp
+++ b/src/share/vm/memory/metaspaceShared.cpp
@@ -699,12 +699,11 @@
 
   // Preload classes to be shared.
   // Should use some os:: method rather than fopen() here. aB.
-  const char* class_list_path;
+  char class_list_path_str[JVM_MAXPATHLEN];
   if (SharedClassListFile == NULL) {
     // Construct the path to the class list (in jre/lib)
     // Walk up two directories from the location of the VM and
     // optionally tack on "lib" (depending on platform)
-    char class_list_path_str[JVM_MAXPATHLEN];
     os::jvm_path(class_list_path_str, sizeof(class_list_path_str));
     for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
       char *end = strrchr(class_list_path_str, *os::file_separator());
@@ -719,9 +718,8 @@
     }
     strcat(class_list_path_str, os::file_separator());
     strcat(class_list_path_str, "classlist");
-    class_list_path = class_list_path_str;
   } else {
-    class_list_path = SharedClassListFile;
+    strcpy(class_list_path_str, SharedClassListFile);
   }
 
   int class_count = 0;
@@ -737,7 +735,7 @@
 
   tty->print_cr("Loading classes to share ...");
   _has_error_classes = false;
-  class_count += preload_and_dump(class_list_path, class_promote_order,
+  class_count += preload_and_dump((const char*)class_list_path_str, class_promote_order,
                                   THREAD);
   if (ExtraSharedClassListFile) {
     class_count += preload_and_dump(ExtraSharedClassListFile, class_promote_order,