diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtilClient.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtilClient.java
index 71cff2e3915b0..a01d5411a1fd8 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtilClient.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs-client/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/DFSUtilClient.java
@@ -661,9 +661,12 @@ public static boolean isValidName(String src) {
     String[] components = StringUtils.split(src, '/');
     for (int i = 0; i < components.length; i++) {
       String element = components[i];
+      // For Windows, we must allow the : in the drive letter.
+      if (Shell.WINDOWS && i == 1 && element.contains(":")) {
+        continue;
+      }
       if (element.equals(".")  ||
-          // For Windows, we must allow the : in the drive letter.
-          (!Shell.WINDOWS && i == 1 && element.contains(":"))  ||
+          (element.contains(":"))  ||
           (element.contains("/"))) {
         return false;
       }