diff --git a/mesonbuild/modules/external_project.py b/mesonbuild/modules/external_project.py
index 9e283e026b36..18dfcee4b20e 100644
--- a/mesonbuild/modules/external_project.py
+++ b/mesonbuild/modules/external_project.py
@@ -116,6 +116,17 @@ def _configure(self, state: 'ModuleState') -> None:
             configure_path = Path(self.src_dir, self.configure_command)
             configure_prog = state.find_program(configure_path.as_posix())
             configure_cmd = configure_prog.get_command()
+            # On Windows the configure command should be converted to
+            # unix style path by cygpath command,
+            # because the colon in the drive letter breaks many configure scripts.
+            if (
+                configure_path.drive
+                and len(configure_cmd) >= 2
+                and configure_cmd[-1] == configure_path.as_posix()
+            ):
+                cygpath = state.find_program('cygpath').get_command()
+                _p, o, _e = Popen_safe(cygpath + [configure_cmd[-1]])
+                configure_cmd = configure_cmd[:-1] + [Path(o.strip()).as_posix()]
             workdir = self.build_dir
             self.make = state.find_program('make').get_command()
 
diff --git a/test cases/common/230 external project/libfoo/configure b/test cases/common/230 external project/libfoo/configure
index 0e4aa72b22b9..bc69a315bbcb 100755
--- a/test cases/common/230 external project/libfoo/configure	
+++ b/test cases/common/230 external project/libfoo/configure	
@@ -1,6 +1,15 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 
 srcdir=$(dirname "$0")
+IFS=:
+for i in $srcdir
+do
+if [ "$i" != "$srcdir" ]
+then
+    echo "srcdir $srcdir is not posix path"
+    exit 1
+fi
+done
 
 for i in "$@"
 do
diff --git a/test cases/common/230 external project/meson.build b/test cases/common/230 external project/meson.build
index d1ed797c4af8..386e52561539 100644
--- a/test cases/common/230 external project/meson.build	
+++ b/test cases/common/230 external project/meson.build	
@@ -8,10 +8,6 @@ if not find_program('make', required : false).found()
   error('MESON_SKIP_TEST: make not found')
 endif
 
-if host_machine.system() == 'windows'
-  error('MESON_SKIP_TEST: The fake configure script is too dumb to work on Windows')
-endif
-
 if meson.is_cross_build()
   # CI uses PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR which breaks -uninstalled.pc usage.
   error('MESON_SKIP_TEST: Cross build support is too limited for this test')