code: def syspath(path, prefix=True):
      
      # Don't do anything if we're not on windows
      if os.path.__name__ != 'ntpath':
          return path
  
      if not isinstance(path, six.text_type):
          # Beets currently represents Windows paths internally with UTF-8
          # arbitrarily. But earlier versions used MBCS because it is
          # reported as the FS encoding by Windows. Try both.
          try:
              path = path.decode('utf8')
          except UnicodeError:
              # The encoding should always be MBCS, Windows' broken
              # Unicode representation.
              encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding() or sys.getdefaultencoding()
              path = path.decode(encoding, 'replace')
  
      # Add the magic prefix if it isn't already there.
      # http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365247.aspx
      if prefix and not path.startswith(WINDOWS_MAGIC_PREFIX):
          if path.startswith(u'\\\\'):
              # UNC path. Final path should look like \\?\UNC\...
              path = u'UNC' + path[1:]
          path = WINDOWS_MAGIC_PREFIX + path
  
      return path
docs: Convert a path for use by the operating system. In particular,
      paths on Windows must receive a magic prefix and must be converted
      to Unicode before they are sent to the OS. To disable the magic
      prefix on Windows, set `prefix` to False---but only do this if you
      *really* know what you're doing.