diff --git a/middleware.js b/middleware.js
index b40d5bd80..f7a301a12 100644
--- a/middleware.js
+++ b/middleware.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 var MemoryFileSystem = require("memory-fs");
 var mime = require("mime");
 var parseRange = require("range-parser");
-var path = require("path");
+var pathIsAbsolute = require("path-is-absolute");
 var getFilenameFromUrl = require("./lib/GetFilenameFromUrl");
 var pathJoin = require("./lib/PathJoin");
 
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ module.exports = function(compiler, options) {
 			options.filename = new RegExp("^[\/]{0,1}" + str + "$");
 		}
 	}
-	if(typeof compiler.outputPath === "string" && !path.isAbsolute(compiler.outputPath)) {
+	if(typeof compiler.outputPath === "string" &&
+		!pathIsAbsolute.posix(compiler.outputPath) && !pathIsAbsolute.win32(compiler.outputPath)) {
 		throw new Error("`output.path` needs to be an absolute path or `/`.");
 	}
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 681fafcce..f2c7f0584 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "memory-fs": "~0.3.0",
     "mime": "^1.3.4",
+    "path-is-absolute": "^1.0.0",
     "range-parser": "^1.0.3"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/test/FileSystem.test.js b/test/FileSystem.test.js
index 4cb1cfa36..cec7793e1 100644
--- a/test/FileSystem.test.js
+++ b/test/FileSystem.test.js
@@ -34,4 +34,10 @@ describe("FileSystem", function() {
 			middleware(compiler);
 		}, /output\.path/);
 	});
+
+	it("should not throw on valid outputPath config for Windows", function() {
+		var compiler = fakeWebpack();
+		compiler.outputPath = "C:/my/path";
+		middleware(compiler);
+	});
 });