diff --git a/builtin/clean.c b/builtin/clean.c
index aaba4af3c26de2..7be689f4809324 100644
--- a/builtin/clean.c
+++ b/builtin/clean.c
@@ -194,7 +194,8 @@ static int remove_dirs(struct strbuf *path, const char *prefix, int force_flag,
 		strbuf_setlen(path, len);
 		strbuf_addstr(path, e->d_name);
 		if (lstat(path->buf, &st))
-			; /* fall thru */
+			warning("Could not stat path '%s': %s",
+				path->buf, strerror(errno));
 		else if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)) {
 			if (remove_dirs(path, prefix, force_flag, dry_run, quiet, &gone))
 				ret = 1;
diff --git a/t/t7300-clean.sh b/t/t7300-clean.sh
index 7b36954d63d70e..aa08443f6ac86d 100755
--- a/t/t7300-clean.sh
+++ b/t/t7300-clean.sh
@@ -669,4 +669,15 @@ test_expect_success 'git clean -d skips untracked dirs containing ignored files'
 	test_path_is_missing foo/b/bb
 '
 
+test_expect_success MINGW 'handle clean & core.longpaths = false nicely' '
+	git config core.longpaths false &&
+	test_when_finished git config --unset core.longpaths &&
+	a50=aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa &&
+	mkdir -p $a50$a50/$a50$a50/$a50$a50 &&
+	touch $a50$a50/test.txt &&
+	touch $a50$a50/$a50$a50/$a50$a50/test.txt &&
+	test_must_fail git clean -xdf 2>.git/err &&
+	grep "too long" .git/err
+'
+
 test_done