diff --git a/src/blob.c b/src/blob.c
index 12f468ef7..c95d018e2 100644
--- a/src/blob.c
+++ b/src/blob.c
@@ -119,9 +119,9 @@ int git_blob_create_fromfile(git_oid *oid, git_repository *repo, const char *pat
 		ssize_t read_len;
 
 		if (!islnk)
-			read_len = read(fd, buffer, sizeof(buffer));
+			read_len = gitfo_read(fd, buffer, sizeof(buffer));
 		else
-			read_len = readlink(full_path, buffer, sizeof(buffer));
+			read_len = gitfo_readlink(full_path, buffer, sizeof(buffer));
 
 		if (read_len < 0) {
 			if (!islnk)
diff --git a/src/fileops.c b/src/fileops.c
index 2e5717e9e..98fc53a50 100644
--- a/src/fileops.c
+++ b/src/fileops.c
@@ -175,14 +175,6 @@ int gitfo_exists(const char *path)
 	return access(path, F_OK);
 }
 
-int gitfo_shallow_exists(const char *path)
-{
-	assert(path);
-
-	struct stat st;
-	return gitfo_lstat(path, &st);
-}
-
 git_off_t gitfo_size(git_file fd)
 {
 	struct stat sb;
@@ -609,3 +601,134 @@ int gitfo_getcwd(char *buffer_out, size_t size)
 
 	return GIT_SUCCESS;
 }
+
+#ifdef GIT_WIN32
+static inline time_t filetime_to_time_t(const FILETIME *ft)
+{
+	long long winTime = ((long long)ft->dwHighDateTime << 32) + ft->dwLowDateTime;
+	winTime -= 116444736000000000LL; /* Windows to Unix Epoch conversion */
+	winTime /= 10000000;		 /* Nano to seconds resolution */
+	return (time_t)winTime;
+}
+
+static int do_lstat(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
+{
+	WIN32_FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DATA fdata;
+
+	if (GetFileAttributesExA(file_name, GetFileExInfoStandard, &fdata)) {
+		int fMode = S_IREAD;
+
+		if (fdata.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY)
+			fMode |= S_IFDIR;
+		else
+			fMode |= S_IFREG;
+
+		if (!(fdata.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_READONLY))
+			fMode |= S_IWRITE;
+
+		if (fdata.dwFileAttributes & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_REPARSE_POINT)
+			fMode |= _S_IFLNK;
+
+		buf->st_ino = 0;
+		buf->st_gid = 0;
+		buf->st_uid = 0;
+		buf->st_nlink = 1;
+		buf->st_mode = fMode;
+		buf->st_size = fdata.nFileSizeLow; /* Can't use nFileSizeHigh, since it's not a stat64 */
+		buf->st_dev = buf->st_rdev = (_getdrive() - 1);
+		buf->st_atime = filetime_to_time_t(&(fdata.ftLastAccessTime));
+		buf->st_mtime = filetime_to_time_t(&(fdata.ftLastWriteTime));
+		buf->st_ctime = filetime_to_time_t(&(fdata.ftCreationTime));
+		return GIT_SUCCESS;
+	}
+
+	switch (GetLastError()) {
+	case ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED:
+	case ERROR_SHARING_VIOLATION:
+	case ERROR_LOCK_VIOLATION:
+	case ERROR_SHARING_BUFFER_EXCEEDED:
+		return GIT_EOSERR;
+
+	case ERROR_BUFFER_OVERFLOW:
+	case ERROR_NOT_ENOUGH_MEMORY:
+		return GIT_ENOMEM;
+
+	default:
+		return GIT_EINVALIDPATH;
+	}
+}
+
+int gitfo_lstat__w32(const char *file_name, struct stat *buf)
+{
+	int namelen, error;
+	char alt_name[GIT_PATH_MAX];
+
+	if ((error = do_lstat(file_name, buf)) == GIT_SUCCESS)
+		return GIT_SUCCESS;
+
+	/* if file_name ended in a '/', Windows returned ENOENT;
+	 * try again without trailing slashes
+	 */
+	if (error != GIT_EINVALIDPATH)
+		return git__throw(GIT_EOSERR, "Failed to lstat file");
+
+	namelen = strlen(file_name);
+	if (namelen && file_name[namelen-1] != '/')
+		return git__throw(GIT_EOSERR, "Failed to lstat file");
+
+	while (namelen && file_name[namelen-1] == '/')
+		--namelen;
+
+	if (!namelen || namelen >= GIT_PATH_MAX)
+		return git__throw(GIT_ENOMEM, "Failed to lstat file");
+
+	memcpy(alt_name, file_name, namelen);
+	alt_name[namelen] = 0;
+	return do_lstat(alt_name, buf);
+}
+int gitfo_readlink__w32(const char *link, char *target, size_t target_len)
+{
+	HANDLE hFile;
+	DWORD dwRet;
+
+	hFile = CreateFile(link,            // file to open
+				 GENERIC_READ,          // open for reading
+				 FILE_SHARE_READ,       // share for reading
+				 NULL,                  // default security
+				 OPEN_EXISTING,         // existing file only
+				 FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS, // normal file
+				 NULL);                 // no attr. template
+
+	if (hFile == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
+		return GIT_EOSERR;
+
+	dwRet = GetFinalPathNameByHandleA(hFile, target, target_len, VOLUME_NAME_DOS);
+	if (dwRet >= target_len)
+		return GIT_ENOMEM;
+
+	CloseHandle(hFile);
+
+	if (dwRet > 4) {
+		/* Skip first 4 characters if they are "\\?\" */
+		if (target[0] == '\\' && target[1] == '\\' && target[2] == '?' && target[3] ==  '\\') {
+			char tmp[MAXPATHLEN];
+			unsigned int offset = 4;
+			dwRet -= 4;
+
+			/* \??\UNC\ */
+			if (dwRet > 7 && target[4] == 'U' && target[5] == 'N' && target[6] == 'C') {
+				offset += 2;
+				dwRet -= 2;
+				target[offset] = '\\';
+			}
+
+			memcpy(tmp, target + offset, dwRet);
+			memcpy(target, tmp, dwRet);
+		}
+	}
+
+	target[dwRet] = '\0';
+	return dwRet;
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/fileops.h b/src/fileops.h
index e20ce6f28..4e6007ad4 100644
--- a/src/fileops.h
+++ b/src/fileops.h
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ typedef struct {  /* file io buffer  */
 } gitfo_buf;
 
 extern int gitfo_exists(const char *path);
-extern int gitfo_shallow_exists(const char *path);
 extern int gitfo_open(const char *path, int flags);
 extern int gitfo_creat(const char *path, int mode);
 extern int gitfo_creat_force(const char *path, int mode);
@@ -95,7 +94,14 @@ extern int gitfo_mv_force(const char *from, const char *to);
 
 #define gitfo_stat(p,b) stat(p, b)
 #define gitfo_fstat(f,b) fstat(f, b)
-#define gitfo_lstat(p,b) lstat(p,b)
+
+#ifdef GIT_WIN32
+#  define gitfo_lstat(p,b) gitfo_lstat__w32(p,b)
+#  define gitfo_readlink(a, b, c) gitfo_readlink__w32(a, b, c)
+#else
+#  define gitfo_lstat(p,b) lstat(p,b)
+#  define gitfo_readlink(a, b, c) readlink(a, b, c)
+#endif
 
 #define gitfo_unlink(p) unlink(p)
 #define gitfo_rmdir(p) rmdir(p)
diff --git a/src/index.c b/src/index.c
index 798d9e918..60b65848d 100644
--- a/src/index.c
+++ b/src/index.c
@@ -411,11 +411,8 @@ static int index_init_entry(git_index_entry *entry, git_index *index, const char
 
 	git__joinpath(full_path, index->repository->path_workdir, rel_path);
 
-	if (gitfo_shallow_exists(full_path) < 0)
-		return git__throw(GIT_ENOTFOUND, "Failed to initialize entry. %s does not exist", full_path);
-
 	if (gitfo_lstat(full_path, &st) < 0)
-		return git__throw(GIT_EOSERR, "Failed to initialize entry. %s appears to be corrupted", full_path);
+		return git__throw(GIT_EOSERR, "Failed to initialize entry. '%s' cannot be opened", full_path);
 
 	if (stage < 0 || stage > 3)
 		return git__throw(GIT_ERROR, "Failed to initialize entry. Invalid stage %i", stage);
diff --git a/src/msvc-compat.h b/src/msvc-compat.h
index 1ec85f91b..6f38e482d 100644
--- a/src/msvc-compat.h
+++ b/src/msvc-compat.h
@@ -12,10 +12,13 @@
 # define stat _stat64
 # define fstat _fstat64
 
+#define _S_IFLNK 0120000
+
 /* stat: file mode type testing macros */
 # define S_ISDIR(m)   (((m) & _S_IFMT) == _S_IFDIR)
 # define S_ISREG(m)   (((m) & _S_IFMT) == _S_IFREG)
 # define S_ISFIFO(m)  (((m) & _S_IFMT) == _S_IFIFO)
+# define S_ISLNK(m)  (((m) & _S_IFMT) == _S_IFLNK)
 
 /* case-insensitive string comparison */
 # define strcasecmp   _stricmp