diff --git a/internal/fs/file.go b/internal/fs/file.go
index 57f1a996a..0de5e2608 100644
--- a/internal/fs/file.go
+++ b/internal/fs/file.go
@@ -71,6 +71,10 @@ func ResetPermissions(path string) error {
 // Readdirnames returns a list of file in a directory. Flags are passed to fs.OpenFile.
 // O_RDONLY and O_DIRECTORY are implied.
 func Readdirnames(filesystem FS, dir string, flags int) ([]string, error) {
+	// cleanup internal flag that conflicts with actual windows API flags
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		flags &^= O_NOFOLLOW
+	}
 	f, err := filesystem.OpenFile(dir, O_RDONLY|O_DIRECTORY|flags, false)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("openfile for readdirnames failed: %w", err)