diff --git a/doc/api/path.markdown b/doc/api/path.markdown
index cc3dc6da8f..5f6555464f 100644
--- a/doc/api/path.markdown
+++ b/doc/api/path.markdown
@@ -3,9 +3,23 @@
 This module contains utilities for dealing with file paths.  Use
 `require('path')` to use it.  It provides the following methods:
 
+### path.normalize(p)
+
+Normalize a string path, taking care of `'..'` and `'.'` parts.
+
+When multiple slashes are found, they're replaces by a single one;
+when the path contains a trailing slash, it is preserved.
+On windows backslashes are used. 
+
+Example:
+
+    path.normalize('/foo/bar//baz/asdf/quux/..')
+    // returns
+    '/foo/bar/baz/asdf'
+
 ### path.join([path1], [path2], [...])
 
-Join all arguments together and resolve the resulting path.
+Join all arguments together and normalize the resulting path.
 
 Example:
 
@@ -13,26 +27,36 @@ Example:
     ...   '/foo', 'bar', 'baz/asdf', 'quux', '..')
     '/foo/bar/baz/asdf'
 
-### path.normalizeArray(arr)
+### path.resolve([from ...], to)
 
-Normalize an array of path parts, taking care of `'..'` and `'.'` parts.
+Resolves `to` to an absolute path name and normalizes it.
 
-Example:
+One ore more `from` arguments may be provided to specify the the starting
+point from where the path will be resolved. `resolve` will prepend `from`
+arguments from right to left until an absolute path is found. If no `from`
+arguments are specified, or after prepending them still no absolute path is
+found, the current working directory will be prepended eventually.
 
-    path.normalizeArray(['',
-      'foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'asdf', 'quux', '..'])
-    // returns
-    [ '', 'foo', 'bar', 'baz', 'asdf' ]
+Trailing slashes are removed unless the path gets resolved to the root
+directory.
 
-### path.normalize(p)
+Examples:
 
-Normalize a string path, taking care of `'..'` and `'.'` parts.
+    path.resolve('index.html')
+    // returns
+    '/home/tank/index.html'
 
-Example:
+    path.resolve('/foo/bar', './baz')
+    // returns
+    '/foo/baz/baz'
 
-    path.normalize('/foo/bar/baz/asdf/quux/..')
+    path.resolve('/foo/bar', '/tmp/file/')
     // returns
-    '/foo/bar/baz/asdf'
+    '/tmp/file'
+
+    path.resolve('wwwroot', 'static_files/png/', '../gif/image.gif')
+    // returns
+    '/home/tank/wwwroot/static_files/gif/image.gif'
 
 ### path.dirname(p)
 
diff --git a/lib/path.js b/lib/path.js
index c5313e9bad..0d81d814ff 100644
--- a/lib/path.js
+++ b/lib/path.js
@@ -1,127 +1,247 @@
-function validPathPart(p) {
-  return typeof p === 'string' && p;
+
+var isWindows = process.platform === 'win32';
+
+
+// resolves . and .. elements in a path array with directory names
+// there must be no slashes, empty elements, or device names (c:\) in the array
+// (so also no leading and trailing slashes - it does not distinguish relative and absolute paths)
+function normalizeArray(parts, allowAboveRoot) {
+  // if the path tries to go above the root, `up` ends up > 0
+  var up = 0;
+  for (var i = parts.length; i >= 0; i--) {
+    var last = parts[i];
+    if (last == '.') {
+      parts.splice(i, 1);
+    } else if (last === '..') {
+      parts.splice(i, 1);
+      up++;
+    } else if (up) {
+      parts.splice(i, 1);
+      up--;
+    }
+  }
+
+  // if the path is allowed to go above the root, restore leading ..s
+  if (allowAboveRoot) {
+    for ( ; up--; up) {
+      parts.unshift('..');
+    }
+  }
+
+  return parts;
 }
 
 
-exports.join = function() {
-  var args = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
-  return exports.normalizeArray(args).join('/');
-};
+if (isWindows) {
 
+  // Regex to split a filename into [*, dir, basename, ext]
+  // windows version
+  var splitPathRe = /^(.+(?:[\\\/](?!$)|:)|[\\\/])?((?:.+?)?(\.[^.]*)?)$/;
 
-exports.split = function(path) {
-  // split based on / and \, but only if that / is not at the start or end.
-  return exports.normalizeArray(path.split(/^|[\\\/](?!$)/));
-};
+  // Regex to split a windows path into three parts: [*, device, slash, tail]
+  // windows-only
+  var splitDeviceRe = /^([a-zA-Z]:|[\\\/]{2}[^\\\/]+[\\\/][^\\\/]+)?([\\\/])?(.*?)$/;
 
+  // path.resolve([from ...], to)
+  // windows version
+  exports.resolve = function() {
+    // Prepend cwd to provided paths
+    var paths = [process.cwd()].concat(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 0));
 
-function cleanArray(parts) {
-  var i = 0;
-  var l = parts.length - 1;
-  var stripped = false;
+    var resolvedDevice = "",
+        resolvedTail = "",
+        resolvedAbsolute = false;
 
-  // strip leading empty args
-  while (i < l && !validPathPart(parts[i])) {
-    stripped = true;
-    i++;
-  }
+    for (var i = paths.length; i >= 0; i--) {
+      var path = paths[i];
 
-  // strip tailing empty args
-  while (l >= i && !validPathPart(parts[l])) {
-    stripped = true;
-    l--;
-  }
+      // Skip empty and invalid entries
+      if (typeof path !== 'string' || !path) {
+        continue;
+      }
 
-  if (stripped) {
-    // if l chopped all the way back to i, then this is empty
-    parts = Array.prototype.slice.call(parts, i, l + 1);
+      var result = splitDeviceRe.exec(path),
+          device = result[1] || '',
+          isUnc = device && device.charAt(1) !== ':',
+          isAbsolute = !!result[2] || isUnc, // UNC paths are always absolute
+          tail = result[3];
+
+      if (device && resolvedDevice && device.toLowerCase() !== resolvedDevice.toLowerCase()) {
+        // This path points to another device so it is not applicable
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      if (!resolvedDevice) {
+        resolvedDevice = device;
+      }
+      if (!resolvedAbsolute) {
+        resolvedTail = tail + '\\' + resolvedTail;
+        resolvedAbsolute = isAbsolute;
+      }
+
+      if (resolvedDevice && resolvedAbsolute) {
+        break;
+      }
+    }
+
+    if (!resolvedAbsolute && resolvedDevice) {
+      // If we still don't have an absolute path,
+      // prepend the current path for the device found.
+
+      // TODO
+      // Windows stores the current directories for 'other' drives
+      // as hidden environment variables like =C:=c:\windows (literally)
+      // var deviceCwd = os.getCwdForDrive(resolvedDevice);
+      var deviceCwd = "";
+
+      // If there is no cwd set for the drive, it is at root
+      resolvedTail = deviceCwd + '\\' + resolvedTail;
+      resolvedAbsolute = true;
+    }
+
+    // Replace slashes (in UNC share name) by backslashes
+    resolvedDevice = resolvedDevice.replace(/\//g, '\\');
+
+    // At this point the path should be resolved to a full absolute path, but
+    // handle relative paths to be safe (might happen when process.cwd() fails)
+
+    // Normalize the tail path
+    resolvedTail = normalizeArray(resolvedTail.split(/[\\\/]+/).filter(function(p) {
+      return !!p;
+    }), !resolvedAbsolute).join('\\');
+
+    return (resolvedDevice + (resolvedAbsolute ? '\\' : '') + resolvedTail) || '.';
   }
 
-  return parts.filter(function(p) { return validPathPart(p) })
-              .join('/')
-              .split(/^|[\\\/](?!$)/);
-}
+  // windows version
+  exports.normalize = function(path) {
+    var result = splitDeviceRe.exec(path),
+        device = result[1] || '',
+        isUnc = device && device.charAt(1) !== ':',
+        isAbsolute = !!result[2] || isUnc, // UNC paths are always absolute
+        tail = result[3],
+        trailingSlash = /[\\\/]$/.test(tail);
 
+    // Normalize the tail path
+    tail = normalizeArray(tail.split(/[\\\/]+/).filter(function(p) {
+      return !!p;
+    }), !isAbsolute).join('\\');
 
-exports.normalizeArray = function(original) {
-  var parts = cleanArray(original);
-  if (!parts.length || (parts.length === 1 && !parts[0])) return ['.'];
-
-  // now we're fully ready to rock.
-  // leading/trailing invalids have been stripped off.
-  // if it comes in starting with a slash, or ending with a slash,
-  var leadingSlash = (parts[0].charAt(0) === '/');
-
-  if (leadingSlash) parts[0] = parts[0].substr(1);
-  var last = parts.slice(-1)[0];
-  var tailingSlash = (last.substr(-1) === '/');
-  if (tailingSlash) parts[parts.length - 1] = last.slice(0, -1);
-  var directories = [];
-  var prev;
-  for (var i = 0, l = parts.length - 1; i <= l; i++) {
-    var directory = parts[i];
-
-    // if it's blank, and we're not keeping blanks, then skip it.
-    if (directory === '') continue;
-
-    // if it's a dot, then skip it
-    if (directory === '.' && (directories.length ||
-        (i === 0 && !(tailingSlash && i === l)) ||
-        (i === 0 && leadingSlash))) continue;
-
-    // if we're dealing with an absolute path, then discard ..s that go
-    // above that the base.
-    if (leadingSlash && directories.length === 0 && directory === '..') {
-      continue;
+    if (!tail && !isAbsolute) {
+      tail = '.'
     }
-    // trying to go up a dir
-    if (directory === '..' && directories.length && prev !== '..' &&
-        prev !== undefined) {
-      directories.pop();
-      prev = directories.slice(-1)[0];
-    } else {
-      directories.push(directory);
-      prev = directory;
+    if (tail && trailingSlash) {
+      tail += '\\'
     }
+
+    return device + (isAbsolute ? '\\' : '') + tail;
   }
-  if (!directories.length) {
-    directories = [leadingSlash || tailingSlash ? '' : '.'];
+
+  // windows version
+  exports.join = function() {
+    var paths = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 0).filter(function(p) {
+          return p && typeof p === 'string';
+        }),
+        joined = paths.join('\\');
+
+    // Make sure that the joined path doesn't start with two slashes
+    // - it will be mistaken for an unc path by normalize() -
+    // unless the paths[0] also starts with two slashes
+    if (/^[\\\/]{2}/.test(joined) && !/^[\\\/]{2}/.test(paths[0])) {
+      joined = joined.slice(1);
+    }
+
+    return exports.normalize(joined);
   }
-  var last = directories.slice(-1)[0];
-  if (tailingSlash && last.substr(-1) !== '/') {
-    directories[directories.length - 1] += '/';
+
+
+} else /* posix */ {
+
+  // Regex to split a filename into [*, dir, basename, ext]
+  // posix version
+  var splitPathRe = /^(.+\/(?!$)|\/)?((?:.+?)?(\.[^.]*)?)$/;
+
+  // path.resolve([from ...], to)
+  // posix version
+  exports.resolve = function() {
+    // Prepend cwd to provided paths
+    var paths = [process.cwd()].concat(Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 0));
+
+    var resolvedPath = "",
+        resolvedAbsolute = false;
+
+    for (var i = paths.length; i >= 0 && !resolvedAbsolute; i--) {
+      var path = paths[i];
+      // Skip empty and invalid entries
+      if (typeof path !== 'string' || !path) {
+        continue;
+      }
+      resolvedPath = path + '/' + resolvedPath;
+      resolvedAbsolute = path.charAt(0) === '/';
+    }
+
+    // At this point the path should be resolved to a full absolute path, but
+    // handle relative paths to be safe (might happen when process.cwd() fails)
+
+    // Normalize the path
+    resolvedPath = normalizeArray(resolvedPath.split('/').filter(function(p) {
+      return !!p;
+    }), !resolvedAbsolute).join('/');
+
+    return ((resolvedAbsolute ? '/' : '') + resolvedPath) || '.';
   }
-  if (leadingSlash && directories[0].charAt(0) !== '/') {
-    if (directories[0] === '.') directories[0] = '';
-    directories[0] = '/' + directories[0];
+
+  // path.normalize(path)
+  // posix version
+  exports.normalize = function(path) {
+    var isAbsolute = path.charAt(0) === '/',
+        trailingSlash = path.slice(-1) === '/';
+
+    // Normalize the path
+    path = normalizeArray(path.split('/').filter(function(p) {
+      return !!p;
+    }), !isAbsolute).join('/');
+
+    if (!path && !isAbsolute) {
+      path = '.'
+    }
+    if (path && trailingSlash) {
+      path += '/';
+    }
+
+    return (isAbsolute ? '/' : '') + path;
   }
-  return directories;
-};
 
 
-exports.normalize = function(path) {
-  return exports.join(path);
-};
+  // posix version
+  exports.join = function() {
+    var paths = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments, 0);
+    return exports.normalize(paths.filter(function(p, index) {
+      return p && typeof p === 'string'
+    }).join('/'));
+  }
+}
 
 
 exports.dirname = function(path) {
-  if (path.length > 1 && '\\/'.indexOf(path[path.length-1]) != -1) {
-    path = path.replace(/\/+$/, '');
-  }
-  var lastSlash = Math.max(path.lastIndexOf('/'), path.lastIndexOf('\\'));
-  switch (lastSlash) {
-    case -1:
-      return '.';
-    case 0:
-      return '/';
-    default:
-      return path.substring(0, lastSlash);
+  var dir = splitPathRe.exec(path)[1] || '';
+  if (!dir) {
+    // No dirname
+    return '.'
+  } else if (dir.length === 1 ||
+      (isWindows && dir.length <= 3 && dir.charAt(1) === ':')) {
+    // It is just a slash or a drive letter with a slash
+    return dir;
+  } else {
+    // It is a full dirname, strip trailing slash
+    return dir.substring(0, dir.length - 1);
   }
 };
 
 
 exports.basename = function(path, ext) {
-  var f = path.substr(path.lastIndexOf('/') + 1);
+  var f = splitPathRe.exec(path)[2] || '';
+  // TODO: make this comparison case-insensitive on windows?
   if (ext && f.substr(-1 * ext.length) === ext) {
     f = f.substr(0, f.length - ext.length);
   }
@@ -130,12 +250,7 @@ exports.basename = function(path, ext) {
 
 
 exports.extname = function(path) {
-  var dot = path.lastIndexOf('.'),
-      slash = Math.max(path.lastIndexOf('/'), path.lastIndexOf('\\'));
-  // The last dot must be in the last path component, and it (the last dot) must
-  // not start the last path component (i.e. be a dot that signifies a hidden
-  // file in UNIX).
-  return dot <= slash + 1 ? '' : path.substring(dot);
+  return splitPathRe.exec(path)[3] || '';
 };
 
 
diff --git a/test/simple/test-path.js b/test/simple/test-path.js
index 9fc50ad590..c263bbcbfd 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-path.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-path.js
@@ -3,12 +3,14 @@ var assert = require('assert');
 
 var path = require('path');
 
+var isWindows = process.platform === 'win32';
+
 var f = __filename;
 
 assert.equal(path.basename(f), 'test-path.js');
 assert.equal(path.basename(f, '.js'), 'test-path');
 assert.equal(path.extname(f), '.js');
-assert.equal(path.dirname(f).substr(-11), 'test/simple');
+assert.equal(path.dirname(f).substr(-11), isWindows ? 'test\\simple' : 'test/simple');
 assert.equal(path.dirname('/a/b/'), '/a');
 assert.equal(path.dirname('/a/b'), '/a');
 assert.equal(path.dirname('/a'), '/');
@@ -87,7 +89,7 @@ var joinTests =
     ];
 joinTests.forEach(function(test) {
   var actual = path.join.apply(path, test[0]);
-  var expected = test[1];
+  var expected = isWindows ? test[1].replace(/\//g, '\\') : test[1];
   var message = 'path.join(' + test[0].map(JSON.stringify).join(',') + ')' +
                 '\n  expect=' + JSON.stringify(expected) +
                 '\n  actual=' + JSON.stringify(actual);
@@ -96,14 +98,52 @@ joinTests.forEach(function(test) {
 });
 assert.equal(failures.length, 0, failures.join(''));
 
+// path normalize tests
+if (isWindows) {
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('./fixtures///b/../b/c.js'),
+               'fixtures\\b\\c.js');
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('/foo/../../../bar'), '\\bar');
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//../b'), 'a\\b');
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//./c'), 'a\\b\\c');
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//.'), 'a\\b');
+} else {
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('./fixtures///b/../b/c.js'),
+               'fixtures/b/c.js');
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('/foo/../../../bar'), '/bar');
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//../b'), 'a/b');
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//./c'), 'a/b/c');
+  assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//.'), 'a/b');
+}
 
-assert.equal(path.normalize('./fixtures///b/../b/c.js'),
-             'fixtures/b/c.js');
-assert.equal(path.normalize('/foo/../../../bar'), '/bar');
-
-assert.deepEqual(path.normalizeArray(['fixtures', 'b', '', '..', 'b', 'c.js']),
-                 ['fixtures', 'b', 'c.js']);
-
-assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//../b'), 'a/b');
-assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//./c'), 'a/b/c');
-assert.equal(path.normalize('a//b//.'), 'a/b');
+// path.resolve tests
+if (isWindows) {
+  // windows
+  var resolveTests =
+    // arguments                                    result
+    [[['c:/blah\\blah', 'd:/games', 'c:../a'     ], 'c:\\blah\\a'    ],
+     [['c:/ignore', 'd:\\a/b\\c/d', '\\e.exe'    ], 'd:\\e.exe'      ],
+     [['c:/ignore', 'c:/some/file'               ], 'c:\\some\\file' ],
+     [['d:/ignore', 'd:some/dir//'               ], 'd:\\ignore\\some\\dir' ],
+     [['.'                                       ], process.cwd()    ],
+     [['//server/share', '..', 'relative\\'      ], '\\\\server\\share\\relative' ]];
+} else {
+  // Posix
+  var resolveTests =
+    // arguments                                    result
+    [[['/var/lib', '../', 'file/'                ], '/var/file'      ],
+     [['/var/lib', '/../', 'file/'               ], '/file'          ],
+     [['a/b/c/', '../../..'                      ], process.cwd()    ],
+     [['.'                                       ], process.cwd()    ],
+     [['/some/dir', '.', '/absolute/'            ], '/absolute'      ]];
+}
+var failures = []
+resolveTests.forEach(function(test) {
+  var actual = path.resolve.apply(path, test[0]);
+  var expected = test[1];
+  var message = 'path.resolve(' + test[0].map(JSON.stringify).join(',') + ')' +
+                '\n  expect=' + JSON.stringify(expected) +
+                '\n  actual=' + JSON.stringify(actual);
+  if (actual !== expected) failures.push('\n' + message);
+  // assert.equal(actual, expected, message);
+});
+assert.equal(failures.length, 0, failures.join(''));