diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 1bbfce2de..b4feeb4ec 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -562,10 +562,19 @@ endif
 
 EMU_FLAGS =
 
+# Adding a txt file to this location will then reference a UNFLoader path specified in the file, instead of locally.
+# This is expecially important for WSL users because UNFLoader.exe is incredibly slow when run within WSL's filesystem, so this can be used to point to the C drive.
+# The file should only contain the directory path that contains UNFLoader[.exe] (do not specify the filename).
+LOADER_DIR_FILE_SPECIFICATION_PATH = ~/.local/share/HackerSM64/UNFLoader-dir.txt
+LOADER_DIR = ./$(TOOLS_DIR)
+
+ifneq (,$(wildcard $(LOADER_DIR_FILE_SPECIFICATION_PATH)))
+  LOADER_DIR = $(shell cat $(LOADER_DIR_FILE_SPECIFICATION_PATH))
+endif
 ifneq (,$(call find-command,wslview))
-    LOADER = ./$(TOOLS_DIR)/UNFLoader.exe
+  LOADER_EXEC = $(LOADER_DIR)/UNFLoader.exe
 else
-    LOADER = ./$(TOOLS_DIR)/UNFLoader
+  LOADER_EXEC = $(LOADER_DIR)/UNFLoader
 endif
 
 SHA1SUM = sha1sum
@@ -621,17 +630,17 @@ test-pj64: $(ROM)
 # someone2639
 
 # download and extract most recent unfloader build if needed
-$(LOADER):
-ifeq (,$(wildcard $(LOADER)))
+$(LOADER_EXEC):
+ifeq (,$(wildcard $(LOADER_EXEC)))
 	@$(PRINT) "Downloading latest UNFLoader...$(NO_COL)\n"
-	$(PYTHON) $(TOOLS_DIR)/get_latest_unfloader.py $(TOOLS_DIR)
+	$(PYTHON) $(TOOLS_DIR)/get_latest_unfloader.py $(LOADER_DIR)
 endif
 
-load: $(ROM) $(LOADER)
-	$(LOADER) -r $<
+load: $(ROM) $(LOADER_EXEC)
+	$(LOADER_EXEC) -r $<
 
-unf: $(ROM) $(LOADER)
-	$(LOADER) -d -r $<
+unf: $(ROM) $(LOADER_EXEC)
+	$(LOADER_EXEC) -d -r $<
 
 libultra: $(BUILD_DIR)/libultra.a
 
diff --git a/tools/get_latest_unfloader.py b/tools/get_latest_unfloader.py
index 3da3e3d9c..868729618 100644
--- a/tools/get_latest_unfloader.py
+++ b/tools/get_latest_unfloader.py
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ def get_latest_build_artifacts_url():
     return os.path.join(body['value'][0]['url'], 'artifacts')
 
 def main():
-    destpath = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else './'
+    destpath = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else '.'
+    unfloader_zip_path = os.path.join(destpath, "UNFLoader.zip")
+    os.makedirs(destpath, exist_ok=True)
     is_wsl = 'microsoft-standard' in str(platform.uname()).lower()
     unf_fn = 'UNFLoader.exe' if is_wsl else 'UNFLoader'
     artifact_url = get_latest_build_artifacts_url()
@@ -32,24 +34,24 @@ def main():
 
     # download unf zipfile
     artifact_res = request('GET', platform_artifact_url)
-    with open('UNFLoader.zip', 'wb') as unf_fp:
+    with open(unfloader_zip_path, 'wb') as unf_fp:
         unf_fp.write(artifact_res.content)
 
     # only extract the specific file that we need
     unfpath = None
-    with zipfile.ZipFile('UNFLoader.zip', 'r') as zip_ref:
+    with zipfile.ZipFile(unfloader_zip_path, 'r') as zip_ref:
         for zipinfo in zip_ref.infolist():
             if not zipinfo.is_dir():
-                unfpath = zip_ref.extract(zipinfo)
+                unfpath = zip_ref.extract(zipinfo, destpath)
 
     unf_bin_path = os.path.join(destpath, unf_fn)
-    # file gets extracted to ./unfloader-{platform}/UNFLoader[.exe],
-    # so move binary to ./UNFLoader[.exe]
+    # file gets extracted to [destpath]/unfloader-{platform}/UNFLoader[.exe],
+    # so move binary to [destpath]/UNFLoader[.exe]
     os.rename(unfpath, unf_bin_path)
-    # remove ./unfloader-{platform}/ directory
+    # remove [destpath]/unfloader-{platform}/ directory
     os.rmdir(unfpath.rstrip(unf_fn))
     # remove UNFLoader.zip
-    os.remove('UNFLoader.zip')
+    os.remove(unfloader_zip_path)
     
     # now need to add executable file permissions to unfloader 
     st = os.stat(unf_bin_path)