diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index 3aea26982d..27d6f4ac30 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -1986,6 +1986,30 @@ pid_t waitpid(pid_t pid, int *status, int options)
 	return -1;
 }
 
+int mingw_has_dos_drive_prefix(const char *path)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	/*
+	 * Does it start with an ASCII letter (i.e. highest bit not set),
+	 * followed by a colon?
+	 */
+	if (!(0x80 & (unsigned char)*path))
+		return *path && path[1] == ':' ? 2 : 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * While drive letters must be letters of the English alphabet, it is
+	 * possible to assign virtually _any_ Unicode character via `subst` as
+	 * a drive letter to "virtual drives". Even `1`, or `ä`. Or fun stuff
+	 * like this:
+	 *
+	 *      subst ֍: %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
+	 */
+	for (i = 1; i < 4 && (0x80 & (unsigned char)path[i]); i++)
+		; /* skip first UTF-8 character */
+	return path[i] == ':' ? i + 1 : 0;
+}
+
 int mingw_skip_dos_drive_prefix(char **path)
 {
 	int ret = has_dos_drive_prefix(*path);
diff --git a/compat/mingw.h b/compat/mingw.h
index 7482f196af..17064665d9 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.h
+++ b/compat/mingw.h
@@ -394,8 +394,8 @@ HANDLE winansi_get_osfhandle(int fd);
  * git specific compatibility
  */
 
-#define has_dos_drive_prefix(path) \
-	(isalpha(*(path)) && (path)[1] == ':' ? 2 : 0)
+int mingw_has_dos_drive_prefix(const char *path);
+#define has_dos_drive_prefix mingw_has_dos_drive_prefix
 int mingw_skip_dos_drive_prefix(char **path);
 #define skip_dos_drive_prefix mingw_skip_dos_drive_prefix
 static inline int mingw_is_dir_sep(int c)
diff --git a/connect.c b/connect.c
index 49b28b83be..a053cc256d 100644
--- a/connect.c
+++ b/connect.c
@@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ int url_is_local_not_ssh(const char *url)
 	const char *colon = strchr(url, ':');
 	const char *slash = strchr(url, '/');
 	return !colon || (slash && slash < colon) ||
-		has_dos_drive_prefix(url);
+		(has_dos_drive_prefix(url) && is_valid_path(url));
 }
 
 static const char *prot_name(enum protocol protocol)
diff --git a/t/t0060-path-utils.sh b/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
index f7e2529bff..40db3e1e1a 100755
--- a/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
+++ b/t/t0060-path-utils.sh
@@ -165,6 +165,15 @@ test_expect_success 'absolute path rejects the empty string' '
 	test_must_fail test-path-utils absolute_path ""
 '
 
+test_expect_success MINGW '<drive-letter>:\\abc is an absolute path' '
+	for letter in : \" C Z 1 ä
+	do
+		path=$letter:\\abc &&
+		absolute="$(test-path-utils absolute_path "$path")" &&
+		test "$path" = "$absolute" || return 1
+	done
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'real path rejects the empty string' '
 	test_must_fail test-path-utils real_path ""
 '