diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7330593..0ec2099 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -659,6 +659,8 @@ to the expected behavior.
   `lexically_normal()` now preserves IPv6 components in device UNC paths.
 * Fix for [#171](https://github.com/gulrak/filesystem/issues/171), `canonical()`
   now supports device UNC paths.
+* Fix for [#204](https://github.com/gulrak/filesystem/issues/204),
+  `weakly_canonical()` now propagates component lookup errors.
 * Fix for [#185](https://github.com/gulrak/filesystem/issues/185),
   `lexically_normal()` now preserves unresolved parent components in relative
   paths.
diff --git a/include/ghc/filesystem.hpp b/include/ghc/filesystem.hpp
index 58f6ba8..454dfe7 100644
--- a/include/ghc/filesystem.hpp
+++ b/include/ghc/filesystem.hpp
@@ -5150,8 +5150,7 @@ GHC_INLINE path weakly_canonical(const path& p, std::error_code& ec) noexcept
     bool scan = true;
     for (auto pe : p) {
         if (scan) {
-            std::error_code tec;
-            if (exists(result / pe, tec)) {
+            if (exists(result / pe, ec)) {
                 result /= pe;
             }
             else {
diff --git a/test/filesystem_test.cpp b/test/filesystem_test.cpp
index 6761db2..263a837 100644
--- a/test/filesystem_test.cpp
+++ b/test/filesystem_test.cpp
@@ -2862,6 +2862,24 @@ TEST_CASE("fs.op.weakly_canonical - weakly_canonical", "[filesystem][operations]
         CHECK(fs::weakly_canonical(rel / "d1/../f0") == dir / "f0");
         CHECK(fs::weakly_canonical(rel / "d1/../f1") == dir / "f1");
         CHECK(fs::weakly_canonical(rel / "d1/../f1/../f2") == dir / "f2");
+
+        std::error_code ec(42, std::system_category());
+        CHECK(fs::weakly_canonical(dir / "missing/child", ec) == dir / "missing/child");
+        CHECK(!ec);
+
+        const auto invalid = dir / std::string(1024, 'x');
+        std::error_code lookupError;
+        CHECK_FALSE(fs::exists(invalid, lookupError));
+#ifndef GHC_OS_WINDOWS
+        REQUIRE(lookupError);
+#endif
+        if (lookupError) {
+            CHECK(fs::weakly_canonical(invalid, ec).empty());
+            CHECK(ec == lookupError);
+#ifdef GHC_WITH_EXCEPTIONS
+            CHECK_THROWS_AS(fs::weakly_canonical(invalid), fs::filesystem_error);
+#endif
+        }
     }
 }