diff --git a/jhbuild/moduleset.py b/jhbuild/moduleset.py
index b3aa7d9..74e81c6 100644
--- a/jhbuild/moduleset.py
+++ b/jhbuild/moduleset.py
@@ -312,10 +312,15 @@ def _child_elements_matching(parent, names):
             yield node
 
 def _parse_module_set(config, uri):
-    try:
-        filename = httpcache.load(uri, nonetwork=config.nonetwork, age=0)
-    except Exception, e:
-        raise FatalError(_('could not download %s: %s') % (uri, e))
+    # local paths can be in the form c:/.. paths on Windows
+    if uri[1]!=':' or not sys.platform.startswith('win'):
+        try:
+            filename = httpcache.load(uri, nonetwork=config.nonetwork, age=0)
+        except Exception, e:
+            raise FatalError(_('could not download %s: %s') % (uri, e))
+    else:
+        filename = os.path.abspath(uri)
+
     filename = os.path.normpath(filename)
     try:
         document = xml.dom.minidom.parse(filename)
