diff --git a/lib/resolve-external.js b/lib/resolve-external.js
index d84c6bae..074785c8 100644
--- a/lib/resolve-external.js
+++ b/lib/resolve-external.js
@@ -75,9 +75,10 @@ function crawl (obj, path, $refs, options, external, seen) {
       if (external && $Ref.is$Ref(obj)) {
         /* Correct the reference in the external document so we can resolve it */
         let withoutHash = url.stripHash(path);
-        if (url.isFileSystemPath(withoutHash)) {
-          /* remove file:// from path */
-          withoutHash = url.toFileSystemPath(withoutHash);
+        const isFileUrl = withoutHash.substr(0, 7).toLowerCase() === "file://";
+        if (isFileUrl) {
+          // Strip-off the protocol
+          withoutHash = withoutHash.substr(7);
         }
         obj.$ref = withoutHash + obj.$ref;
       }
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 1fb74249..cbe581aa 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@stoplight/json-schema-ref-parser",
-  "version": "9.2.5",
+  "version": "9.2.7",
   "lockfileVersion": 2,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@stoplight/json-schema-ref-parser",
-      "version": "9.2.5",
+      "version": "9.2.7",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@jsdevtools/ono": "^7.1.3",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index eb4805e9..4d193b70 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@stoplight/json-schema-ref-parser",
-  "version": "9.2.5",
+  "version": "9.2.7",
   "description": "Parse, Resolve, and Dereference JSON Schema $ref pointers",
   "keywords": [
     "json",