diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5faec4e884..42ecd1601f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning], with the exception that minor rel
 
 - 🚸 Improve native gate support for the Qiskit-to-OpenQASM3 conversion in the QDMI-Qiskit interface ([#1719]) ([**@burgholzer**])
 
+### Fixed
+
+- 🏁 Fix dynamic loading of QDMI device DLLs on Windows when an absolute path is provided ([#1720]) ([**@burgholzer**])
+
 ## [3.6.0] - 2026-05-13
 
 _If you are upgrading: please see [`UPGRADING.md`](UPGRADING.md#360)._
@@ -370,8 +374,9 @@ _📚 Refer to the [GitHub Release Notes](https://github.com/munich-quantum-tool
 [3.0.0]: https://github.com/munich-quantum-toolkit/core/releases/tag/v3.0.0
 [2.7.0]: https://github.com/munich-quantum-toolkit/core/releases/tag/v2.7.0
 
-<!-- PR links -->
+<!-- PR links -
 
+[#1720]: https://github.com/munich-quantum-toolkit/core/pull/1720
 [#1719]: https://github.com/munich-quantum-toolkit/core/pull/1719
 [#1702]: https://github.com/munich-quantum-toolkit/core/pull/1702
 [#1694]: https://github.com/munich-quantum-toolkit/core/pull/1694
diff --git a/src/qdmi/driver/Driver.cpp b/src/qdmi/driver/Driver.cpp
index d738d99a0e..c2c1dba036 100644
--- a/src/qdmi/driver/Driver.cpp
+++ b/src/qdmi/driver/Driver.cpp
@@ -74,10 +74,14 @@ namespace {
 [[nodiscard]] auto loadDeviceLibrary(const std::string& libName) -> HMODULE {
   const auto requested = std::filesystem::path(libName);
 
-  const std::filesystem::path path = requested.has_parent_path()
-                                         ? requested
-                                         : getDriverDirectory() / requested;
+  if (requested.has_parent_path()) {
+    // A directory component was supplied: Directly load the library.
+    return LoadLibraryW(requested.wstring().c_str());
+  }
 
+  // Bare filename: resolve relative to the driver's own directory so that
+  // builtin device DLLs installed next to the driver are found reliably.
+  const auto path = getDriverDirectory() / requested;
   return LoadLibraryExW(path.wstring().c_str(), nullptr,
                         LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DLL_LOAD_DIR |
                             LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_DEFAULT_DIRS);