diff --git a/lisp/progmodes/cpp.el b/lisp/progmodes/cpp.el
index 186312f333b..f49c8e934a5 100644
--- a/lisp/progmodes/cpp.el
+++ b/lisp/progmodes/cpp.el
@@ -568,6 +568,14 @@ You can also use the keyboard accelerators indicated like this: [K]ey."
     (set-window-start nil start)
     (goto-char pos)))
 
+(defun cpp-locate-user-emacs-file (file)
+  (locate-user-emacs-file
+   ;; Remove initial '.' from file.
+   (if (eq (aref file 0) ?.)
+       (substring file 1)
+     file)
+   file))
+
 (defun cpp-edit-load ()
   "Load cpp configuration."
   (interactive)
@@ -576,8 +584,8 @@ You can also use the keyboard accelerators indicated like this: [K]ey."
 	 nil)
 	((file-readable-p cpp-config-file)
 	 (load-file cpp-config-file))
-	((file-readable-p (concat "~/" cpp-config-file))
-	 (load-file (concat "~/" cpp-config-file))))
+	((file-readable-p (cpp-locate-user-emacs-file cpp-config-file))
+	 (load-file (cpp-locate-user-emacs-file cpp-config-file))))
   (if (derived-mode-p 'cpp-edit-mode)
       (cpp-edit-reset)))
 
@@ -588,7 +596,7 @@ You can also use the keyboard accelerators indicated like this: [K]ey."
   (with-current-buffer cpp-edit-buffer
     (let* ((config-file (if (file-writable-p cpp-config-file)
                             cpp-config-file
-                          (concat "~/" cpp-config-file)))
+                          (cpp-locate-user-emacs-file cpp-config-file)))
            (buffer (find-file-noselect config-file)))
       (set-buffer buffer)
       (erase-buffer)