diff --git a/lib/mkdirs/__tests__/README.md b/lib/mkdirs/__tests__/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index a211103b..00000000
--- a/lib/mkdirs/__tests__/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-These tests imported from https://github.com/substack/node-mkdirp.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/mkdirs/__tests__/issue-209.test.js b/lib/mkdirs/__tests__/issue-209.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2640eb92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/mkdirs/__tests__/issue-209.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+var assert = require('assert')
+var fse = require(process.cwd())
+
+/* global describe, it */
+
+describe('mkdirp: issue-209, win32, when bad path, should return a cleaner error', function () {
+  // only seems to be an issue on Windows.
+  if (process.platform !== 'win32') return
+
+  it('should return a callback', function (done) {
+    var file = './bad?dir'
+    fse.mkdirp(file, function (err) {
+      assert(err, 'error is present')
+      assert.strictEqual(err.code, 'EINVAL')
+
+      var file2 = 'c:\\tmp\foo:moo'
+      fse.mkdirp(file2, function (err) {
+        assert(err, 'error is present')
+        assert.strictEqual(err.code, 'EINVAL')
+        done()
+      })
+    })
+  })
+
+  describe('> sync', function () {
+    it('should throw an error', function () {
+      var didErr
+      try {
+        var file = 'c:\\tmp\foo:moo'
+        fse.mkdirpSync(file)
+      } catch (err) {
+        // console.error(err)
+        didErr = true
+      }
+      assert(didErr)
+    })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs-sync.js b/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs-sync.js
index 138d56ce..3f30680d 100644
--- a/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs-sync.js
+++ b/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs-sync.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 var fs = require('graceful-fs')
 var path = require('path')
+var invalidWin32Path = require('./win32').invalidWin32Path
 
 var o777 = parseInt('0777', 8)
 
@@ -11,6 +12,12 @@ function mkdirsSync (p, opts, made) {
   var mode = opts.mode
   var xfs = opts.fs || fs
 
+  if (process.platform === 'win32' && invalidWin32Path(p)) {
+    var errInval = new Error(p + ' contains invalid WIN32 path characters.')
+    errInval.code = 'EINVAL'
+    throw errInval
+  }
+
   if (mode === undefined) {
     mode = o777 & (~process.umask())
   }
diff --git a/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs.js b/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs.js
index 2bdfa041..939776c4 100644
--- a/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs.js
+++ b/lib/mkdirs/mkdirs.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 var fs = require('graceful-fs')
 var path = require('path')
+var invalidWin32Path = require('./win32').invalidWin32Path
 
 var o777 = parseInt('0777', 8)
 
@@ -11,6 +12,12 @@ function mkdirs (p, opts, callback, made) {
     opts = { mode: opts }
   }
 
+  if (process.platform === 'win32' && invalidWin32Path(p)) {
+    var errInval = new Error(p + ' contains invalid WIN32 path characters.')
+    errInval.code = 'EINVAL'
+    return callback(errInval)
+  }
+
   var mode = opts.mode
   var xfs = opts.fs || fs
 
diff --git a/lib/mkdirs/win32.js b/lib/mkdirs/win32.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..569ac1ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/mkdirs/win32.js
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+'use strict'
+var path = require('path')
+
+// get drive on windows
+function getRootPath (p) {
+  p = path.normalize(path.resolve(p)).split(path.sep)
+  if (p.length > 0) return p[0]
+  else return null
+}
+
+// http://stackoverflow.com/a/62888/10333 contains more accurate
+// TODO: expand to include the rest
+var INVALID_PATH_CHARS = /[<>:"|?*]/
+
+function invalidWin32Path (p) {
+  var rp = getRootPath(p)
+  p = p.replace(rp, '')
+  return INVALID_PATH_CHARS.test(p)
+}
+
+module.exports = {
+  getRootPath: getRootPath,
+  invalidWin32Path: invalidWin32Path
+}