diff --git a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_ini.c b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_ini.c
index f6f055966c..a3ee801fb5 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_ini.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_ini.c
@@ -107,9 +107,17 @@ int ompi_btl_openib_ini_init(void)
     int ret = OMPI_ERR_NOT_FOUND;
     char *colon;
 
+#ifndef __WINDOWS__
+    char separator = ':';
+#else
+    /* ':' is part of the path on Windows, 
+       so use ';' instead. */
+    char separator = ';';
+#endif
+
     OBJ_CONSTRUCT(&devices, opal_list_t);
 
-    colon = strchr(mca_btl_openib_component.device_params_file_names, ':');
+    colon = strchr(mca_btl_openib_component.device_params_file_names, separator);
     if (NULL == colon) {
         /* If we've only got 1 file (i.e., no colons found), parse it
            and be done */
diff --git a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
index 41a02e0e0f..1dbe8252a2 100644
--- a/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
+++ b/ompi/mca/btl/openib/btl_openib_mca.c
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ int btl_openib_register_mca_params(void)
         return OMPI_ERR_OUT_OF_RESOURCE;
     }
     CHECK(reg_string("device_param_files", "hca_param_files",
-                     "Colon-delimited list of INI-style files that contain device vendor/part-specific parameters",
+                     "Colon-delimited list of INI-style files that contain device vendor/part-specific parameters (use semicolon for Windows)",
                      str, &mca_btl_openib_component.device_params_file_names, 
                      0));
     free(str);