diff --git a/src/node/main.ts b/src/node/main.ts
index b3c4e4c14500..990a7af792b1 100644
--- a/src/node/main.ts
+++ b/src/node/main.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { commit, version, vsRootPath } from "./constants"
 import { register } from "./routes"
 import { VSCodeModule } from "./routes/vscode"
 import { isDirectory, open } from "./util"
+import * as os from "os"
 
 /**
  * Return true if the user passed an extension-related VS Code flag.
@@ -51,7 +52,11 @@ export const runCodeCli = async (args: DefaultedArgs): Promise<void> => {
   try {
     // See vscode.loadVSCode for more on this jank.
     process.env.CODE_SERVER_PARENT_PID = process.pid.toString()
-    const modPath = path.join(vsRootPath, "out/server-main.js")
+    let modPath = path.join(vsRootPath, "out/server-main.js")
+    if (os.platform() === "win32") {
+      // On Windows, absolute paths of ESM modules must be a valid file URI.
+      modPath = "file:///" + modPath.replace(/\\/g, "/")
+    }
     const mod = (await eval(`import("${modPath}")`)) as VSCodeModule
     const serverModule = await mod.loadCodeWithNls()
     await serverModule.spawnCli(await toCodeArgs(args))
diff --git a/src/node/routes/vscode.ts b/src/node/routes/vscode.ts
index 7e8f0f3ff4e5..637a30352ceb 100644
--- a/src/node/routes/vscode.ts
+++ b/src/node/routes/vscode.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { promises as fs } from "fs"
 import * as http from "http"
 import * as net from "net"
 import * as path from "path"
+import * as os from "os"
 import { WebsocketRequest } from "../../../typings/pluginapi"
 import { logError } from "../../common/util"
 import { CodeArgs, toCodeArgs } from "../cli"
@@ -58,7 +59,11 @@ async function loadVSCode(req: express.Request): Promise<IVSCodeServerAPI> {
   // which will also require that we switch to ESM, since a hybrid approach
   // breaks importing `rotating-file-stream` for some reason.  To work around
   // this, use `eval` for now, but we should consider switching to ESM.
-  const modPath = path.join(vsRootPath, "out/server-main.js")
+  let modPath = path.join(vsRootPath, "out/server-main.js")
+  if (os.platform() === "win32") {
+    // On Windows, absolute paths of ESM modules must be a valid file URI.
+    modPath = "file:///" + modPath.replace(/\\/g, "/")
+  }
   const mod = (await eval(`import("${modPath}")`)) as VSCodeModule
   const serverModule = await mod.loadCodeWithNls()
   return serverModule.createServer(null, {