diff --git a/app/background-process/protocols/dat.js b/app/background-process/protocols/dat.js
index 861bf9cbb8..5c1a9eba8d 100644
--- a/app/background-process/protocols/dat.js
+++ b/app/background-process/protocols/dat.js
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ async function datProtocol (request, respond) {
     // abort if we've already found it
     if (entry) return
     // apply the web_root config
-    if (manifest && manifest.web_root) {
+    if (manifest && manifest.web_root && !urlp.query.disable_web_root) {
       if (path) {
         path = joinPaths(manifest.web_root, path)
       } else {
diff --git a/app/builtin-pages/com/file-preview.js b/app/builtin-pages/com/file-preview.js
index d582dcc495..82b5bd0237 100644
--- a/app/builtin-pages/com/file-preview.js
+++ b/app/builtin-pages/com/file-preview.js
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export default function render (fileNode) {
 
   // now check for media formats
   const mimetype = mime.lookup(fileNode.name)
-  const url = fileNode.url + '?cache-buster=' + Date.now()
+  const url = fileNode.url + '?cache-buster=' + Date.now() + '&disable_web_root=1'
 
   if (mimetype.startsWith('image/')) {
     return yo`<img src=${url} />`