diff --git a/base/loading.jl b/base/loading.jl
index 2314c530851378..5d1ebaf2112359 100644
--- a/base/loading.jl
+++ b/base/loading.jl
@@ -3122,10 +3122,8 @@ mutable struct CacheHeaderIncludes
     const modpath::Vector{String}   # seemingly not needed in Base, but used by Revise
 end
 
-function replace_depot_path(path::AbstractString)
-    @static if Sys.iswindows()
-        path = replace(path, Filesystem.path_separator_re=>Filesystem.pathsep())
-    end
+function replace_depot_path(the_path::AbstractString)
+    path = abspath(the_path)
     for depot in DEPOT_PATH
         !isdir(depot) && continue
 
@@ -3133,17 +3131,14 @@ function replace_depot_path(path::AbstractString)
         if isdirpath(depot)
             depot = dirname(depot)
         end
-
-        @static if Sys.iswindows()
-            depot = replace(depot, Filesystem.path_separator_re=>Filesystem.pathsep())
-        end
+        depot = abspath(depot)
 
         if startswith(path, string(depot, Filesystem.pathsep())) || path == depot
             path = replace(path, depot => "@depot"; count=1)
-            break
+            return path
         end
     end
-    return path
+    return the_path
 end
 
 function restore_depot_path(path::AbstractString, depot::AbstractString)
diff --git a/test/relocatedepot.jl b/test/relocatedepot.jl
index 8fd3bbb3ce2c31..cb6468e7bd1473 100644
--- a/test/relocatedepot.jl
+++ b/test/relocatedepot.jl
@@ -70,21 +70,6 @@ if !test_relocated_depot
                 @test Base.replace_depot_path(jlrc) != "@depot-rc2"
                 @test Base.replace_depot_path(jlrc) == jlrc
             end
-            if Sys.iswindows()
-                # windows accepts '\\' and '/' as path separators
-                mktempdir() do dir
-                    jlrc = string(dir, "/", "julia-rc2")
-                    jl   = string(dir, "/", "julia")
-                    mkdir(jl)
-                    push!(DEPOT_PATH, jl)
-                    @test Base.replace_depot_path(jl) == "@depot"
-                    @test Base.replace_depot_path(string(jl,"/"))  == string("@depot","\\")
-                    @test Base.replace_depot_path(string(jl,"\\")) == string("@depot","\\")
-                    @test Base.replace_depot_path(jlrc) != "@depot-rc2"
-                    @test Base.replace_depot_path(jlrc) ==
-                        replace(jlrc, Base.Filesystem.path_separator_re=>"\\")
-                end
-            end
         end
 
     end