diff --git a/packages/browser/src/client/public/error-catcher.js b/packages/browser/src/client/public/error-catcher.js
index a1326694e987..1e8a042cc115 100644
--- a/packages/browser/src/client/public/error-catcher.js
+++ b/packages/browser/src/client/public/error-catcher.js
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ async function reportUnexpectedError(
   error,
 ) {
   const processedError = serializeError(error)
-  await client.rpc.onUnhandledError(processedError, type)
+  await client.waitForConnection().then(() => {
+    return client.rpc.onUnhandledError(processedError, type)
+  }).catch(console.error)
   const state = __vitest_browser_runner__
 
   if (state.type === 'orchestrator') {
diff --git a/packages/browser/src/node/serverTester.ts b/packages/browser/src/node/serverTester.ts
index 0773787cd67e..18ea0c0d99ee 100644
--- a/packages/browser/src/node/serverTester.ts
+++ b/packages/browser/src/node/serverTester.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ export async function resolveTester(
   try {
     const indexhtml = await server.vite.transformIndexHtml(url.pathname, testerHtml)
     return replacer(indexhtml, {
+      __VITEST_FAVICON__: server.faviconUrl,
       __VITEST_INJECTOR__: injector,
       __VITEST_APPEND__: `
     __vitest_browser_runner__.runningFiles = ${tests}
diff --git a/packages/ui/package.json b/packages/ui/package.json
index 8b8552d70b8c..4dd3069e4cf2 100644
--- a/packages/ui/package.json
+++ b/packages/ui/package.json
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@
     "codemirror-theme-vars": "^0.1.2",
     "d3-graph-controller": "^3.0.11",
     "floating-vue": "^5.2.2",
+    "rollup": "^4.24.0",
     "splitpanes": "^3.1.5",
     "unocss": "^0.63.6",
     "unplugin-auto-import": "^0.18.3",
diff --git a/packages/vite-node/src/client.ts b/packages/vite-node/src/client.ts
index 84aed6696067..db67097184d7 100644
--- a/packages/vite-node/src/client.ts
+++ b/packages/vite-node/src/client.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
 import type { HotContext, ModuleCache, ViteNodeRunnerOptions } from './types'
 
 import { createRequire } from 'node:module'
-// we need native dirname, because windows __dirname has \\
-import { dirname } from 'node:path'
+import { dirname, resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from 'node:url'
 import vm from 'node:vm'
 import createDebug from 'debug'
-import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 import { extractSourceMap } from './source-map'
 import {
   cleanUrl,
diff --git a/packages/vite-node/src/utils.ts b/packages/vite-node/src/utils.ts
index a4e5b5bc6586..edd2896c3b61 100644
--- a/packages/vite-node/src/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/vite-node/src/utils.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ export function normalizeRequestId(id: string, base?: string): string {
     id = `/${id.slice(base.length)}`
   }
 
-  // keep drive the same as in process cwd
+  // keep drive the same as in process cwd. ideally, this should be resolved on Vite side
+  // Vite always resolves drive letters to the upper case because of the use of `realpathSync`
+  // https://github.com/vitejs/vite/blob/0ab20a3ee26eacf302415b3087732497d0a2f358/packages/vite/src/node/utils.ts#L635
   if (driveRegexp && !driveRegexp?.test(id) && driveOppositeRegext?.test(id)) {
     id = id.replace(driveOppositeRegext, `${drive}$1`)
   }
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/mocks.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/mocks.ts
index 865496d762f9..e9def6730850 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/mocks.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/mocks.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
 import type { Plugin } from 'vite'
 import { automockPlugin, hoistMocksPlugin } from '@vitest/mocker/node'
+import { normalize } from 'pathe'
 import { distDir } from '../../paths'
 import { generateCodeFrame } from '../error'
 
 export function MocksPlugins(): Plugin[] {
+  const normalizedDistDir = normalize(distDir)
   return [
     hoistMocksPlugin({
       filter(id) {
-        if (id.includes(distDir)) {
+        if (id.includes(normalizedDistDir)) {
           return false
         }
         return true
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/forks.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/forks.ts
index 0eaaf1851480..cf925eb421fb 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/forks.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/forks.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ import type { SerializedConfig } from '../types/config'
 import type { WorkspaceProject } from '../workspace'
 import EventEmitter from 'node:events'
 import * as nodeos from 'node:os'
+import { resolve } from 'node:path'
 import v8 from 'node:v8'
 import { createBirpc } from 'birpc'
-import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 import { Tinypool } from 'tinypool'
 import { groupBy } from '../../utils/base'
 import { wrapSerializableConfig } from '../../utils/config-helpers'
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/threads.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/threads.ts
index 6199231a84a6..4d443975057a 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/threads.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/threads.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ import type { SerializedConfig } from '../types/config'
 import type { WorkerContext } from '../types/worker'
 import type { WorkspaceProject } from '../workspace'
 import * as nodeos from 'node:os'
+import { resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { MessageChannel } from 'node:worker_threads'
 import { createBirpc } from 'birpc'
-import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 import Tinypool from 'tinypool'
 import { groupBy } from '../../utils/base'
 import { envsOrder, groupFilesByEnv } from '../../utils/test-helpers'
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/vmForks.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/vmForks.ts
index 78306a98763a..14cd5881a35f 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/vmForks.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/vmForks.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ import type { ResolvedConfig, SerializedConfig } from '../types/config'
 import type { WorkspaceProject } from '../workspace'
 import EventEmitter from 'node:events'
 import * as nodeos from 'node:os'
+import { resolve } from 'node:path'
 import v8 from 'node:v8'
 import { createBirpc } from 'birpc'
-import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 import Tinypool from 'tinypool'
 import { rootDir } from '../../paths'
 import { wrapSerializableConfig } from '../../utils/config-helpers'
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/vmThreads.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/vmThreads.ts
index 040537e1a868..01420cfc87be 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/vmThreads.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/pools/vmThreads.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ import type { ResolvedConfig, SerializedConfig } from '../types/config'
 import type { WorkerContext } from '../types/worker'
 import type { WorkspaceProject } from '../workspace'
 import * as nodeos from 'node:os'
+import { resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { MessageChannel } from 'node:worker_threads'
 import { createBirpc } from 'birpc'
-import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 import Tinypool from 'tinypool'
 import { rootDir } from '../../paths'
 import { getWorkerMemoryLimit, stringToBytes } from '../../utils/memory-limit'
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/workspace.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/workspace.ts
index 17887cdc40b8..487fa5dc3709 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/workspace.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/workspace.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ import type {
 import { promises as fs } from 'node:fs'
 import { rm } from 'node:fs/promises'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
-import { deepMerge, nanoid } from '@vitest/utils'
+import path from 'node:path'
+import { deepMerge, nanoid, slash } from '@vitest/utils'
 import fg from 'fast-glob'
 import mm from 'micromatch'
 import {
@@ -27,7 +28,6 @@ import {
   join,
   relative,
   resolve,
-  toNamespacedPath,
 } from 'pathe'
 import { ViteNodeRunner } from 'vite-node/client'
 import { ViteNodeServer } from 'vite-node/server'
@@ -302,7 +302,10 @@ export class WorkspaceProject {
     }
 
     const files = await fg(include, globOptions)
-    return files.map(file => resolve(cwd, file))
+    // keep the slashes consistent with Vite
+    // we are not using the pathe here because it normalizes the drive letter on Windows
+    // and we want to keep it the same as working dir
+    return files.map(file => slash(path.resolve(cwd, file)))
   }
 
   async isTargetFile(id: string, source?: string): Promise<boolean> {
@@ -329,7 +332,7 @@ export class WorkspaceProject {
 
   filterFiles(testFiles: string[], filters: string[], dir: string) {
     if (filters.length && process.platform === 'win32') {
-      filters = filters.map(f => toNamespacedPath(f))
+      filters = filters.map(f => slash(f))
     }
 
     if (filters.length) {
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/paths.ts b/packages/vitest/src/paths.ts
index 55197e204d9a..11ceb81bf9c6 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/paths.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/paths.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
+import { resolve } from 'node:path'
 import url from 'node:url'
-import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 
 export const rootDir = resolve(url.fileURLToPath(import.meta.url), '../../')
 export const distDir = resolve(
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/execute.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/execute.ts
index 7b07b66bcaa7..a5a6802cb5d5 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/execute.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/execute.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ import {
 import { distDir } from '../paths'
 import { VitestMocker } from './mocker'
 
+const normalizedDistDir = normalize(distDir)
+
 const { readFileSync } = fs
 
 export interface ExecuteOptions extends ViteNodeRunnerOptions {
@@ -112,7 +114,7 @@ export async function startVitestExecutor(options: ContextExecutorOptions) {
       }
       // always externalize Vitest because we import from there before running tests
       // so we already have it cached by Node.js
-      if (id.includes(distDir)) {
+      if (id.includes(distDir) || id.includes(normalizedDistDir)) {
         const { path } = toFilePath(id, state().config.root)
         const externalize = pathToFileURL(path).toString()
         externalizeMap.set(id, externalize)
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/mocker.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/mocker.ts
index c924d010b4d0..fe193f2eaf53 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/mocker.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/mocker.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 import type { ManualMockedModule, MockedModuleType } from '@vitest/mocker'
 import type { MockFactory, MockOptions, PendingSuiteMock } from '../types/mocker'
 import type { VitestExecutor } from './execute'
+import { isAbsolute, resolve } from 'node:path'
 import vm from 'node:vm'
 import { AutomockedModule, MockerRegistry, mockObject, RedirectedModule } from '@vitest/mocker'
 import { findMockRedirect } from '@vitest/mocker/redirect'
 import { highlight } from '@vitest/utils'
-import { isAbsolute, resolve } from 'pathe'
 import { distDir } from '../paths'
 
 const spyModulePath = resolve(distDir, 'spy.js')
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/index.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/index.ts
index 49a7e1a87e80..2ac31beba3c7 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/runners/index.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import type { VitestRunner, VitestRunnerConstructor } from '@vitest/runner'
 import type { SerializedConfig } from '../config'
 import type { VitestExecutor } from '../execute'
-import { resolve } from 'pathe'
+import { resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { takeCoverageInsideWorker } from '../../integrations/coverage'
 import { distDir } from '../../paths'
 import { rpc } from '../rpc'
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 77cca4916dce..b5c7bede3af1 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -752,6 +752,9 @@ importers:
       floating-vue:
         specifier: ^5.2.2
         version: 5.2.2(vue@3.5.12(typescript@5.6.3))
+      rollup:
+        specifier: ^4.24.0
+        version: 4.24.0
       splitpanes:
         specifier: ^3.1.5
         version: 3.1.5
diff --git a/test/benchmark/test/reporter.test.ts b/test/benchmark/test/reporter.test.ts
index 8bb9dd2a2254..d118732ff71d 100644
--- a/test/benchmark/test/reporter.test.ts
+++ b/test/benchmark/test/reporter.test.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { runVitest } from '../../test-utils'
 it('summary', async () => {
   const root = pathe.join(import.meta.dirname, '../fixtures/reporter')
   const result = await runVitest({ root }, ['summary.bench.ts'], 'benchmark')
+  expect(result.stderr).toBe('')
   expect(result.stdout).not.toContain('NaNx')
   expect(result.stdout.split('BENCH  Summary')[1].replaceAll(/[0-9.]+x/g, '(?)')).toMatchSnapshot()
 })
diff --git a/test/cli/fixtures/windows-drive-case/basic.test.ts b/test/cli/fixtures/windows-drive-case/basic.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4fa6fcaa6e95
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/fixtures/windows-drive-case/basic.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+import { expect, test } from 'vitest'
+
+test('basic test', () => {
+  expect(1).toBe(1)
+})
diff --git a/test/cli/test/public-api.test.ts b/test/cli/test/public-api.test.ts
index e2a551d94bdc..93de5e5e1eb8 100644
--- a/test/cli/test/public-api.test.ts
+++ b/test/cli/test/public-api.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-import type { File, TaskResultPack, UserConfig } from 'vitest'
+import type { RunnerTaskResultPack, RunnerTestFile } from 'vitest'
+import type { UserConfig } from 'vitest/node'
 import { resolve } from 'pathe'
 import { expect, it } from 'vitest'
 import { runVitest } from '../../test-utils'
@@ -15,15 +16,15 @@ it.each([
       headless: true,
     },
   },
-] as UserConfig[])('passes down metadata when $name', { timeout: 60_000, retry: 3 }, async (config) => {
-  const taskUpdate: TaskResultPack[] = []
-  const finishedFiles: File[] = []
-  const collectedFiles: File[] = []
+] as UserConfig[])('passes down metadata when $name', { timeout: 60_000, retry: 1 }, async (config) => {
+  const taskUpdate: RunnerTaskResultPack[] = []
+  const finishedFiles: RunnerTestFile[] = []
+  const collectedFiles: RunnerTestFile[] = []
   const { ctx, stdout, stderr } = await runVitest({
     root: resolve(__dirname, '..', 'fixtures', 'public-api'),
     include: ['**/*.spec.ts'],
     reporters: [
-      'verbose',
+      ['verbose', { isTTY: false }],
       {
         onTaskUpdate(packs) {
           taskUpdate.push(...packs.filter(i => i[1]?.state === 'pass'))
diff --git a/test/cli/test/windows-drive-case.test.ts b/test/cli/test/windows-drive-case.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4b44695faa8f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/cli/test/windows-drive-case.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import { join } from 'pathe'
+import { expect, test } from 'vitest'
+import { runVitestCli } from '../../test-utils'
+
+const _DRIVE_LETTER_START_RE = /^[A-Z]:\//i
+const root = join(import.meta.dirname, '../fixtures/windows-drive-case')
+const cwd = root.replace(_DRIVE_LETTER_START_RE, r => r.toLowerCase())
+
+test.runIf(process.platform === 'win32')(`works on windows with a lowercase drive: ${cwd}`, async () => {
+  const { stderr, stdout } = await runVitestCli({
+    nodeOptions: {
+      cwd,
+    },
+  }, '--no-watch')
+
+  expect(cwd[0]).toEqual(cwd[0].toLowerCase())
+  expect(stderr).toBe('')
+  expect(stdout).toContain('1 passed')
+})