diff --git a/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/FTP/FTPOptions.cs b/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/FTP/FTPOptions.cs
index a0ed22560..be068e13b 100644
--- a/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/FTP/FTPOptions.cs	
+++ b/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/FTP/FTPOptions.cs	
@@ -172,8 +172,10 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.FTP
         {
             if (ValidateForm())
             {
+                Cursor c = this.Cursor;
                 try
                 {
+                    this.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor;
                     System.Data.LightDatamodel.IDataFetcherCached con = new System.Data.LightDatamodel.DataFetcherNested(Program.DataConnection);
                     Datamodel.Backends.FTP ftp = new Duplicati.Datamodel.Backends.FTP(con.Add<Task>());
 
@@ -196,6 +198,7 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.FTP
                 {
                     MessageBox.Show(this, "Connection Failed: " + ex.Message, Application.ProductName, MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
                 }
+                this.Cursor = c;
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/S3/S3Options.cs b/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/S3/S3Options.cs
index db8e166d1..b5b3d272a 100644
--- a/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/S3/S3Options.cs	
+++ b/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/S3/S3Options.cs	
@@ -185,8 +185,10 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.S3
         {
             if (ValidateForm())
             {
+                Cursor c = this.Cursor;
                 try
                 {
+                    this.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor;
                     System.Data.LightDatamodel.IDataFetcherCached con = new System.Data.LightDatamodel.DataFetcherNested(Program.DataConnection);
                     Datamodel.Backends.S3 s3 = new Duplicati.Datamodel.Backends.S3(con.Add<Task>());
 
@@ -219,6 +221,7 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.S3
                     MessageBox.Show(this, "Connection Failed: " + ex.Message, Application.ProductName, MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
 
                 }
+                this.Cursor = c;
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/SSH/SSHOptions.cs b/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/SSH/SSHOptions.cs
index f6a5879a3..afa1aced3 100644
--- a/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/SSH/SSHOptions.cs	
+++ b/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/SSH/SSHOptions.cs	
@@ -122,8 +122,10 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.SSH
         {
             if (ValidateForm())
             {
+                Cursor c = this.Cursor;
                 try
                 {
+                    this.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor;
                     System.Data.LightDatamodel.IDataFetcherCached con = new System.Data.LightDatamodel.DataFetcherNested(Program.DataConnection);
                     Datamodel.Backends.SSH ssh = new Duplicati.Datamodel.Backends.SSH(con.Add<Task>());
 
@@ -139,6 +141,9 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.SSH
                     Dictionary<string, string> options = new Dictionary<string, string>();
                     ssh.GetOptions(options);
 
+                    //Make sure that "testing" always produce a log
+                    options.Add("debug-to-console", "");
+
                     string[] files = Duplicati.Library.Main.Interface.List(target, options);
 
                     MessageBox.Show(this, "Connection succeeded!", Application.ProductName, MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);
@@ -149,6 +154,7 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.SSH
                     MessageBox.Show(this, "Connection Failed: " + ex.Message, Application.ProductName, MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
 
                 }
+                this.Cursor = c;
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/WebDAV/WebDAVOptions.cs b/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/WebDAV/WebDAVOptions.cs
index cde6d104d..7c42856a2 100644
--- a/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/WebDAV/WebDAVOptions.cs	
+++ b/Duplicati/GUI/Wizard pages/Backends/WebDAV/WebDAVOptions.cs	
@@ -185,8 +185,10 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.WebDAV
         {
             if (ValidateForm())
             {
+                Cursor c = this.Cursor;
                 try
                 {
+                    this.Cursor = Cursors.WaitCursor;
                     System.Data.LightDatamodel.IDataFetcherCached con = new System.Data.LightDatamodel.DataFetcherNested(Program.DataConnection);
                     Datamodel.Backends.WEBDAV webdav = new Duplicati.Datamodel.Backends.WEBDAV(con.Add<Datamodel.Task>());
 
@@ -210,6 +212,7 @@ namespace Duplicati.GUI.Wizard_pages.Backends.WebDAV
                 {
                     MessageBox.Show(this, "Connection Failed: " + ex.Message, Application.ProductName, MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
                 }
+                this.Cursor = c;
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/Duplicati/Library/Backend/SSH/SSHBackend.cs b/Duplicati/Library/Backend/SSH/SSHBackend.cs
index 69f96fb2a..e1c1e85b2 100644
--- a/Duplicati/Library/Backend/SSH/SSHBackend.cs
+++ b/Duplicati/Library/Backend/SSH/SSHBackend.cs
@@ -71,7 +71,20 @@ namespace Duplicati.Library.Backend
                 }
             }
 
-            m_path = u.AbsolutePath.Substring(1);
+            m_path = u.AbsolutePath;
+            
+            if (m_isLinux)
+            {
+                //HACK: "AbsolutePath" strips extra slashes under mono, so we re-add them here
+                int ix = url.IndexOf(m_path);
+                if (ix > 0 && url[ix - 1] == '/')
+                        m_path = "/" + m_path;
+            }
+
+            //Remove 1 leading slash so server/path is mapped to "path",
+            // and server//path is mapped to "/path"
+            m_path = m_path.Substring(1);
+
             if (!m_path.EndsWith("/"))
                 m_path += "/";
 
@@ -81,7 +94,7 @@ namespace Duplicati.Library.Backend
                 m_sftp = options["sftp-command"];
             else
             {
-                if (System.Environment.OSVersion.Platform == PlatformID.Unix || System.Environment.OSVersion.Platform == PlatformID.MacOSX)
+                if (m_isLinux)
                     m_sftp = "sftp";
                 else
                     m_sftp = "psftp.exe";
@@ -250,7 +263,7 @@ namespace Duplicati.Library.Backend
         {
             get
             {
-                return "This backend can read and write data to an SSH based backend, using SCP and SFTP. Allowed formats are \"ssh://hostname/folder\" or \"ssh://username:password@hostname/folder\". NOTE: This backend does not support throttling uploads or downloads, and requires that sftp and scp are installed (using putty for windows).";
+                return "This backend can read and write data to an SSH based backend, using SFTP. Allowed formats are \"ssh://hostname/folder\" or \"ssh://username:password@hostname/folder\". NOTE: This backend does not support throttling uploads or downloads, and requires that sftp is installed (using putty for windows).";
             }
         }
 
@@ -307,11 +320,11 @@ namespace Duplicati.Library.Backend
                     //we wrap the command with expect, which allows us to use stdin/stdout
                     p.StartInfo.FileName = "expect";
 
-                    p.StartInfo.Arguments = @"-c ""set timeout 30"" -c ""spawn \""" + m_sftp + @"\"" " + server + " " + m_ssh_options + @""" -c ""interact {~~}""";
+                    p.StartInfo.Arguments = @"-c ""set timeout 30"" -c ""spawn \""" + System.Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(m_sftp) + @"\"" " + server + " " + m_ssh_options + @""" -c ""interact {~~}""";
                 }
                 else
                 {
-                    p.StartInfo.FileName = m_sftp;
+                    p.StartInfo.FileName = System.Environment.ExpandEnvironmentVariables(m_sftp);
                     p.StartInfo.Arguments = server + " " + m_ssh_options;
                 }