diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 99bf31f1f..372bd85cd 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -87,8 +87,14 @@ set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
 # to the corresponding path in the source directory.
 function(link_to_source base_name)
     # Get OS dependent path to use in `execute_process`
-    file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${base_name}" link)
-    file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${base_name}" target)
+    if (CMAKE_HOST_WIN32)
+        #mklink is an internal command of cmd.exe it can only work with \
+        string(REPLACE "/" "\\" link "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${base_name}")
+        string(REPLACE "/" "\\" target "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${base_name}")
+    else()
+        set(link "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${base_name}")
+        set(target "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${base_name}")
+    endif()
 
     if (NOT EXISTS ${link})
         if (CMAKE_HOST_UNIX)