diff --git a/lib/internal/errors.js b/lib/internal/errors.js
index 81bc4b8d81ffe9..cb05bc43872d03 100644
--- a/lib/internal/errors.js
+++ b/lib/internal/errors.js
@@ -1434,8 +1434,8 @@ E('ERR_UNSUPPORTED_DIR_IMPORT', "Directory import '%s' is not supported " +
 E('ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME', (url) => {
   let msg = 'Only file and data URLs are supported by the default ESM loader';
   if (isWindows && url.protocol.length === 2) {
-    msg += '. Absolute Windows paths without prefix are not valid URLs, ' +
-      "consider using 'file://' prefix";
+    msg +=
+      '. On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs';
   }
   msg += `. Received protocol '${url.protocol}'`;
   return msg;
diff --git a/test/es-module/test-esm-dynamic-import.js b/test/es-module/test-esm-dynamic-import.js
index 30a5758ad9b0d4..0cb56dff2c04c5 100644
--- a/test/es-module/test-esm-dynamic-import.js
+++ b/test/es-module/test-esm-dynamic-import.js
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ function expectFsNamespace(result) {
   if (common.isWindows) {
     const msg =
       'Only file and data URLs are supported by the default ESM loader. ' +
-      'Absolute Windows paths without prefix are not valid URLs, ' +
-      "consider using 'file://' prefix. Received protocol 'c:'";
+      'On Windows, absolute paths must be valid file:// URLs. ' +
+      "Received protocol 'c:'";
     expectModuleError(import('C:\\example\\foo.mjs'),
                       'ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME',
                       msg);