diff --git a/src/tl/tl/tlUri.cc b/src/tl/tl/tlUri.cc
index 4325f6740..a7c9113d6 100644
--- a/src/tl/tl/tlUri.cc
+++ b/src/tl/tl/tlUri.cc
@@ -100,7 +100,9 @@ URI::URI (const std::string &uri)
   tl::Extractor ex0 (uri.c_str ());
   tl::Extractor ex = ex0;
 
-  if (ex.try_read_word (m_scheme) && *ex == ':') {
+  //  NOTE: to distinguish a windows drive letter from a scheme, we expect the scheme to
+  //  be longer than one character
+  if (ex.try_read_word (m_scheme) && *ex == ':' && m_scheme.length () > 1) {
     //  got scheme
     ++ex;
   } else {
diff --git a/src/tl/unit_tests/tlUri.cc b/src/tl/unit_tests/tlUriTests.cc
similarity index 88%
rename from src/tl/unit_tests/tlUri.cc
rename to src/tl/unit_tests/tlUriTests.cc
index 1ecdd82d6..0f848fa33 100644
--- a/src/tl/unit_tests/tlUri.cc
+++ b/src/tl/unit_tests/tlUriTests.cc
@@ -22,6 +22,15 @@
 
 #include "tlUri.h"
 #include "tlUnitTest.h"
+#include "tlFileUtils.h"
+
+//  Secret mode switchers for testing
+namespace tl
+{
+TL_PUBLIC void file_utils_force_windows ();
+TL_PUBLIC void file_utils_force_linux ();
+TL_PUBLIC void file_utils_force_reset ();
+}
 
 std::string uri2string (const tl::URI &uri)
 {
@@ -142,3 +151,28 @@ TEST(1)
   EXPECT_EQ (uri2string (uri), "</path/to/file>?<a>=<v1>&<b>=<v2>&<c>=<v3>#<fragment>");
   EXPECT_EQ (uri2string (uri.resolved (tl::URI ("../other"))), "</path/to/file/../other>");
 }
+
+//  windows file paths compatibility
+TEST(2)
+{
+  try {
+
+    tl::file_utils_force_windows ();
+
+    //  use case taken from Magic writer:
+
+    tl::URI uri ("c:\\users\\myself\\path.txt");
+
+    std::string ext = tl::extension (uri.path ());
+    EXPECT_EQ (ext, "txt");
+
+    uri.set_path (tl::dirname (uri.path ()));
+    EXPECT_EQ (uri.to_string (), "C:\\users\\myself");
+
+    tl::file_utils_force_reset ();
+
+  } catch (...) {
+    tl::file_utils_force_reset ();
+    throw;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/tl/unit_tests/unit_tests.pro b/src/tl/unit_tests/unit_tests.pro
index 989902872..ac708a150 100644
--- a/src/tl/unit_tests/unit_tests.pro
+++ b/src/tl/unit_tests/unit_tests.pro
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ SOURCES = \
   tlUtils.cc \
   tlVariant.cc \
   tlXMLParser.cc \
-  tlUri.cc \
   tlStreamTests.cc \
   tlWebDAV.cc \
   tlHttpStream.cc \
@@ -39,7 +38,8 @@ SOURCES = \
   tlEquivalenceClustersTests.cc \
     tlUniqueNameTests.cc \
     tlGlobPatternTests.cc \
-    tlRecipeTests.cc
+    tlRecipeTests.cc \
+    tlUriTests.cc
 
 !equals(HAVE_QT, "0") {