diff --git a/bin/telebitd.js b/bin/telebitd.js
index 03dfd7e..7683c30 100755
--- a/bin/telebitd.js
+++ b/bin/telebitd.js
@@ -571,17 +571,21 @@ function serveControlsHelper() {
   // mask is so that processes owned by other users
   // can speak to this process, which is probably root-owned
   var oldUmask = process.umask(0x0000);
+  var serverOpts = {
+    writableAll: true
+  , readableAll: true
+  , exclusive: false
+  };
   if ('socket' === state._ipc.type) {
     require('mkdirp').sync(path.dirname(state._ipc.path));
   }
-  controlServer.listen({
-    path: state._ipc.path || null
-  , host: 'localhost'
-  , port: state._ipc.port || null
-  , writableAll: true
-  , readableAll: true
-  , exclusive: false
-  }, function () {
+  if (state._ipc.port) {
+    serverOpts.host = 'localhost';
+    serverOpts.port = state._ipc.port;
+  } else {
+    serverOpts.path = state._ipc.path;
+  }
+  controlServer.listen(serverOpts, function () {
     process.umask(oldUmask);
     var address = this.address();
     if (address.port) {
diff --git a/tests/windows-pipe.js b/tests/windows-pipe.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7beb384
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/windows-pipe.js
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+'use strict';
+
+var os = require('os');
+var net = require('net');
+var ipc = {
+  path: /^win/.test(os.platform()) ? '\\\\.\\pipe\\X:/name/of/pipe' : (__dirname + '/tmp.sock')
+};
+var oldUmask = process.umask(0x0000);
+var server = net.createServer();
+
+server.listen({
+  path: ipc.path || null
+, host: 'localhost'
+, port: ipc.port || null
+, writeableAll: true
+, readableAll: true
+}, function () {
+  process.umask(oldUmask);
+  console.log("Listening on", this.address());
+});
diff --git a/tests/windows-spawn-pipe.js b/tests/windows-spawn-pipe.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4f1b39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/windows-spawn-pipe.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+'use strict';
+
+var path = require('path');
+var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
+var args = [
+  path.join(__dirname, 'windows-pipe.js')
+];
+var subprocess = spawn(
+  'node'
+, args
+, { detached: true
+  , stdio: [ 'ignore', process.stdout, process.stderr ]
+  }
+);
+//console.log('[debug]', vars.telebitNode, args.join(' '));
+subprocess.unref();
+subprocess.on('error', function (_err) {
+  console.error(_err);
+});
+subprocess.on('exit', function (code, signal) {
+  console.error('' + code + ' ' + signal + ' failure to launch');
+});