diff --git a/lib/model/rwfolder.go b/lib/model/rwfolder.go
index 8276a5ac..ab9a4372 100644
--- a/lib/model/rwfolder.go
+++ b/lib/model/rwfolder.go
@@ -53,8 +53,9 @@ type copyBlocksState struct {
 const retainBits = os.ModeSetgid | os.ModeSetuid | os.ModeSticky
 
 var (
-	activity    = newDeviceActivity()
-	errNoDevice = errors.New("peers who had this file went away, or the file has changed while syncing. will retry later")
+	activity               = newDeviceActivity()
+	errNoDevice            = errors.New("peers who had this file went away, or the file has changed while syncing. will retry later")
+	errSymlinksUnsupported = errors.New("symlinks not supported")
 )
 
 const (
@@ -1759,6 +1760,9 @@ func fileValid(file db.FileIntf) error {
 		// We don't care about file validity if we're not supposed to have it
 		return nil
 
+	case runtime.GOOS == "windows" && file.IsSymlink():
+		return errSymlinksUnsupported
+
 	case runtime.GOOS == "windows" && windowsInvalidFilename(file.FileName()):
 		return errInvalidFilename
 	}
diff --git a/lib/scanner/walk.go b/lib/scanner/walk.go
index 8925d527..dded1e87 100644
--- a/lib/scanner/walk.go
+++ b/lib/scanner/walk.go
@@ -373,6 +373,12 @@ func (w *walker) walkDir(relPath string, info os.FileInfo, dchan chan protocol.F
 // walkSymlink returns nil or an error, if the error is of the nature that
 // it should stop the entire walk.
 func (w *walker) walkSymlink(absPath, relPath string, dchan chan protocol.FileInfo) error {
+	// Symlinks are not supported on Windows. We ignore instead of returning
+	// an error.
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	// We always rehash symlinks as they have no modtime or
 	// permissions. We check if they point to the old target by
 	// checking that their existing blocks match with the blocks in
diff --git a/lib/scanner/walk_test.go b/lib/scanner/walk_test.go
index cfcaa74d..a65b6806 100644
--- a/lib/scanner/walk_test.go
+++ b/lib/scanner/walk_test.go
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ func TestIssue1507(t *testing.T) {
 	fn("", nil, protocol.ErrClosed)
 }
 
-func TestWalkSymlink(t *testing.T) {
+func TestWalkSymlinkUnix(t *testing.T) {
 	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
 		t.Skip("skipping unsupported symlink test")
 		return
@@ -323,6 +323,45 @@ func TestWalkSymlink(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestWalkSymlinkWindows(t *testing.T) {
+	if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
+		t.Skip("skipping unsupported symlink test")
+	}
+
+	// Create a folder with a symlink in it
+
+	os.RemoveAll("_symlinks")
+	defer os.RemoveAll("_symlinks")
+
+	os.Mkdir("_symlinks", 0755)
+	if err := os.Symlink("destination", "_symlinks/link"); err != nil {
+		// Probably we require permissions we don't have.
+		t.Skip(err)
+	}
+
+	// Scan it
+
+	fchan, err := Walk(Config{
+		Dir:       "_symlinks",
+		BlockSize: 128 * 1024,
+	})
+
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	var files []protocol.FileInfo
+	for f := range fchan {
+		files = append(files, f)
+	}
+
+	// Verify that we got zero symlinks
+
+	if len(files) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("expected zero symlinks, not %d", len(files))
+	}
+}
+
 func walkDir(dir string) ([]protocol.FileInfo, error) {
 	fchan, err := Walk(Config{
 		Dir:           dir,