diff --git a/parser.c b/parser.c
index 4cfcfe5d..9078c0ca 100644
--- a/parser.c
+++ b/parser.c
@@ -10342,6 +10342,7 @@ xmlCreateFileParserCtxt(const char *filename)
 {
     xmlParserCtxtPtr ctxt;
     xmlParserInputPtr inputStream;
+    char *canonicFilename;
     char *directory = NULL;
 
     ctxt = xmlNewParserCtxt();
@@ -10352,7 +10353,16 @@ xmlCreateFileParserCtxt(const char *filename)
 	return(NULL);
     }
 
-    inputStream = xmlLoadExternalEntity(filename, NULL, ctxt);
+    canonicFilename = xmlCanonicPath(filename);
+    if (canonicFilename == NULL) {
+	if (xmlDefaultSAXHandler.error != NULL) {
+	    xmlDefaultSAXHandler.error(NULL, "out of memory\n");
+	}
+	return(NULL);
+    }
+    
+    inputStream = xmlLoadExternalEntity(canonicFilename, NULL, ctxt);
+    xmlFree(canonicFilename);
     if (inputStream == NULL) {
 	xmlFreeParserCtxt(ctxt);
 	return(NULL);
diff --git a/uri.c b/uri.c
index 65efe122..0e3d0e7c 100644
--- a/uri.c
+++ b/uri.c
@@ -1985,8 +1985,10 @@ done:
 xmlChar*
 xmlCanonicPath(const xmlChar *path)
 {
-    int len, i = 0;
+    int len = 0;
+    int i = 0;
     xmlChar *ret;
+    xmlChar *p = NULL;
     xmlURIPtr uri;
 
     if (path == NULL)
@@ -1998,23 +2000,26 @@ xmlCanonicPath(const xmlChar *path)
 
     uri = xmlCreateURI();
 
-#if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__CYGWIN__)
+#if defined(_WIN32) && !defined(__CYGWIN__)    
     len = xmlStrlen(path);
     if ((len > 2) && IS_WINDOWS_PATH(path)) {
 	uri->scheme = xmlStrdup(BAD_CAST "file");
-	uri->path = xmlMalloc(len + 1);
+	uri->path = xmlMalloc(len + 2);
 	uri->path[0] = '/';
-	while (i < len) {
-	    if (path[i] == '\\')
-		uri->path[i+1] = '/';
-	    else
-		uri->path[i+1] = path[i];
-	    i++;
-	}
-	uri->path[len] = '\0';
-    } else
-#endif
+	p = uri->path + 1;
+	strncpy(p, path, len + 1);
+    } else {
 	uri->path = xmlStrdup(path);
+	p = uri->path;
+    }
+    while (*p != '\0') {
+	if (*p == '\\')
+	    *p = '/';
+	p++;
+    }
+#else
+    uri->path = xmlStrdup(path);
+#endif
     
     ret = xmlSaveUri(uri);
     xmlFreeURI(uri);