diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
index bf2f3365d..08d9d741c 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2012-07-31  Corinna Vinschen  <corinna@vinschen.de>
+
+	* path.cc (etc::dir_changed): Revert muto changes since function is
+	called under lock condition anyway.
+
 2012-07-31  Corinna Vinschen  <corinna@vinschen.de>
 
 	* path.cc (etc::dir_changed): Change `io' to a static NO_COPY
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/path.cc b/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
index 859e95878..d1a881c39 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/path.cc
@@ -4311,12 +4311,11 @@ etc::test_file_change (int n)
 bool
 etc::dir_changed (int n)
 {
-  static muto lock NO_COPY;
-  static HANDLE changed_h NO_COPY;
   /* io MUST be static because NtNotifyChangeDirectoryFile works asynchronously.
      It may write into io after the function has left, which may result in all
      sorts of stack corruption. */
   static IO_STATUS_BLOCK io NO_COPY;
+  static HANDLE changed_h NO_COPY;
 
   if (!change_possible[n])
     {
@@ -4326,43 +4325,36 @@ etc::dir_changed (int n)
 	{
 	  OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES attr;
 
-	  lock.init ("etc_dir_changed_lock")->acquire ();
-	  if (!changed_h)
+	  path_conv dir ("/etc");
+	  status = NtOpenFile (&changed_h, SYNCHRONIZE | FILE_LIST_DIRECTORY,
+			       dir.get_object_attr (attr, sec_none_nih), &io,
+			       FILE_SHARE_VALID_FLAGS, FILE_DIRECTORY_FILE);
+	  if (!NT_SUCCESS (status))
 	    {
-	      path_conv dir ("/etc");
-	      status = NtOpenFile (&changed_h,
-				   SYNCHRONIZE | FILE_LIST_DIRECTORY,
-				   dir.get_object_attr (attr, sec_none_nih),
-				   &io, FILE_SHARE_VALID_FLAGS,
-				   FILE_DIRECTORY_FILE);
-	      if (!NT_SUCCESS (status))
-		{
 #ifdef DEBUGGING
-		  system_printf ("NtOpenFile (%S) failed, %p",
-				 dir.get_nt_native_path (), status);
+	      system_printf ("NtOpenFile (%S) failed, %p",
+			     dir.get_nt_native_path (), status);
 #endif
-		  changed_h = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
-		}
-	      else
-		{
-		  status = NtNotifyChangeDirectoryFile (changed_h, NULL, NULL,
+	      changed_h = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
+	    }
+	  else
+	    {
+	      status = NtNotifyChangeDirectoryFile (changed_h, NULL, NULL,
 						NULL, &io, NULL, 0,
 						FILE_NOTIFY_CHANGE_LAST_WRITE
 						| FILE_NOTIFY_CHANGE_FILE_NAME,
 						FALSE);
-		  if (!NT_SUCCESS (status))
-		    {
+	      if (!NT_SUCCESS (status))
+		{
 #ifdef DEBUGGING
-		      system_printf ("NtNotifyChangeDirectoryFile (1) failed, "
-				     "%p", status);
+		  system_printf ("NtNotifyChangeDirectoryFile (1) failed, %p",
+				 status);
 #endif
-		      NtClose (changed_h);
-		      changed_h = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
-		    }
+		  NtClose (changed_h);
+		  changed_h = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
 		}
-	      memset (change_possible, true, sizeof (change_possible));
 	    }
-	  lock.release ();
+	  memset (change_possible, true, sizeof (change_possible));
 	}
 
       if (changed_h == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)