diff --git a/unit_test/run_pluginpaths.sh b/unit_test/run_pluginpaths.sh
index 62974bbb63..13983fd3fd 100755
--- a/unit_test/run_pluginpaths.sh
+++ b/unit_test/run_pluginpaths.sh
@@ -20,10 +20,12 @@ echo "IMPLS=|$IMPLS|"
 
 # Bash under windows/mingw has bad habit of translating '/' to '\\'
 # for command line arguments
-DFALT="\/zero;\/one;\/two;\/three;\/four"
-DFALTSET="\/zero;\/one;\/mod;\/two;\/three;\/four"
-DFALTHDF5="\/zero;\/one;\/two;\/hdf5;\/three;\/four"
-DFALTNCZARR="\/zero;\/one;\/two;\/nczarr;three;\/four;\/five"
+export MSYS_NO_PATHCONV=1
+
+DFALT="/zero;/one;/two;/three;/four"
+DFALTSET="/zero;/one;/mod;/two;/three;/four"
+DFALTHDF5="/zero;/one;/two;/hdf5;/three;/four"
+DFALTNCZARR="/zero;/one;/two;/nczarr;three;/four;/five"
 
 if test "x$TESTNCZARR" = x1 ; then
 . "$srcdir/test_nczarr.sh"
@@ -51,8 +53,8 @@ modfor() {
     local formatx="$1"
     local dfalt="$2"
     case "$formatx" in
-	hdf5) mod="${dfalt};\/modhdf5" ;;
-	nczarr) mod="\/modnczarr;${dfalt}" ;;
+	hdf5) mod="${dfalt};/modhdf5" ;;
+	nczarr) mod="/modnczarr;${dfalt}" ;;
 	all) mode="${dfalt}" ;;
     esac
 }