diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 1932e9b9a2..28d57e3381 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -212,6 +212,12 @@ The default is true, except linkgit:git-clone[1] or linkgit:git-init[1]
 will probe and set core.fileMode false if appropriate when the
 repository is created.
 
+core.hideDotFiles::
+	(Windows-only) If true (which is the default), mark newly-created
+	directories and files whose name starts with a dot as hidden.
+	If 'dotGitOnly', only the .git/ directory is hidden, but no other
+	files starting with a dot.
+
 core.ignorecase::
 	If true, this option enables various workarounds to enable
 	Git to work better on filesystems that are not case sensitive,
diff --git a/builtin/init-db.c b/builtin/init-db.c
index 56f85e239a..ca433df331 100644
--- a/builtin/init-db.c
+++ b/builtin/init-db.c
@@ -385,6 +385,7 @@ int init_db(const char *template_dir, unsigned int flags)
 	check_repository_format();
 
 	reinit = create_default_files(template_dir);
+	mark_as_git_dir(get_git_dir());
 
 	create_object_directory();
 
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 107ac61b68..96d231aee4 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -603,6 +603,13 @@ extern int precomposed_unicode;
  */
 extern char comment_line_char;
 
+enum hide_dotfiles_type {
+	HIDE_DOTFILES_FALSE = 0,
+	HIDE_DOTFILES_TRUE,
+	HIDE_DOTFILES_DOTGITONLY,
+};
+extern enum hide_dotfiles_type hide_dotfiles;
+
 enum branch_track {
 	BRANCH_TRACK_UNSPECIFIED = -1,
 	BRANCH_TRACK_NEVER = 0,
diff --git a/compat/mingw.c b/compat/mingw.c
index 757157980d..c584ef3c04 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@
 #include <wchar.h>
 #include "../strbuf.h"
 #include "../run-command.h"
+#include "../cache.h"
 
 static const int delay[] = { 0, 1, 10, 20, 40 };
+unsigned int _CRT_fmode = _O_BINARY;
 
 int err_win_to_posix(DWORD winerr)
 {
@@ -283,6 +285,27 @@ int mingw_rmdir(const char *pathname)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+static int make_hidden(const wchar_t *path)
+{
+	DWORD attribs = GetFileAttributesW(path);
+	if (SetFileAttributesW(path, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN | attribs))
+		return 0;
+	errno = err_win_to_posix(GetLastError());
+	return -1;
+}
+
+void mingw_mark_as_git_dir(const char *dir)
+{
+	wchar_t wdir[MAX_PATH];
+	if (hide_dotfiles != HIDE_DOTFILES_FALSE && !is_bare_repository())
+		if (xutftowcs_path(wdir, dir) < 0 || make_hidden(wdir))
+			warning("Failed to make '%s' hidden", dir);
+	git_config_set("core.hideDotFiles",
+		hide_dotfiles == HIDE_DOTFILES_FALSE ? "false" :
+		(hide_dotfiles == HIDE_DOTFILES_DOTGITONLY ?
+		 "dotGitOnly" : "true"));
+}
+
 int mingw_mkdir(const char *path, int mode)
 {
 	int ret;
@@ -290,6 +313,16 @@ int mingw_mkdir(const char *path, int mode)
 	if (xutftowcs_path(wpath, path) < 0)
 		return -1;
 	ret = _wmkdir(wpath);
+	if (!ret && hide_dotfiles == HIDE_DOTFILES_TRUE) {
+		/*
+		 * In Windows a file or dir starting with a dot is not
+		 * automatically hidden. So lets mark it as hidden when
+		 * such a directory is created.
+		 */
+		const char *start = basename((char*)path);
+		if (*start == '.')
+			return make_hidden(wpath);
+	}
 	return ret;
 }
 
@@ -316,6 +349,17 @@ int mingw_open (const char *filename, int oflags, ...)
 		if (attrs != INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES && (attrs & FILE_ATTRIBUTE_DIRECTORY))
 			errno = EISDIR;
 	}
+	if ((oflags & O_CREAT) && fd >= 0 &&
+	    hide_dotfiles == HIDE_DOTFILES_TRUE) {
+		/*
+		 * In Windows a file or dir starting with a dot is not
+		 * automatically hidden. So lets mark it as hidden when
+		 * such a file is created.
+		 */
+		const char *start = basename((char*)filename);
+		if (*start == '.' && make_hidden(wfilename))
+			warning("Could not mark '%s' as hidden.", filename);
+	}
 	return fd;
 }
 
@@ -347,27 +391,39 @@ int mingw_fgetc(FILE *stream)
 #undef fopen
 FILE *mingw_fopen (const char *filename, const char *otype)
 {
+	int hide = 0;
 	FILE *file;
 	wchar_t wfilename[MAX_PATH], wotype[4];
+	if (hide_dotfiles == HIDE_DOTFILES_TRUE &&
+	    basename((char*)filename)[0] == '.')
+		hide = access(filename, F_OK);
 	if (filename && !strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
 		filename = "nul";
 	if (xutftowcs_path(wfilename, filename) < 0 ||
 		xutftowcs(wotype, otype, ARRAY_SIZE(wotype)) < 0)
 		return NULL;
 	file = _wfopen(wfilename, wotype);
+	if (file && hide && make_hidden(wfilename))
+		warning("Could not mark '%s' as hidden.", filename);
 	return file;
 }
 
 FILE *mingw_freopen (const char *filename, const char *otype, FILE *stream)
 {
+	int hide = 0;
 	FILE *file;
 	wchar_t wfilename[MAX_PATH], wotype[4];
+	if (hide_dotfiles == HIDE_DOTFILES_TRUE &&
+	    basename((char*)filename)[0] == '.')
+		hide = access(filename, F_OK);
 	if (filename && !strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
 		filename = "nul";
 	if (xutftowcs_path(wfilename, filename) < 0 ||
 		xutftowcs(wotype, otype, ARRAY_SIZE(wotype)) < 0)
 		return NULL;
 	file = _wfreopen(wfilename, wotype, stream);
+	if (file && hide && make_hidden(wfilename))
+		warning("Could not mark '%s' as hidden.", filename);
 	return file;
 }
 
@@ -1899,6 +1955,23 @@ pid_t waitpid(pid_t pid, int *status, int options)
 	return -1;
 }
 
+const char *get_windows_home_directory(void)
+{
+	static const char *home_directory = NULL;
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+	if (home_directory)
+		return home_directory;
+
+	home_directory = getenv("HOME");
+	if (home_directory && *home_directory)
+		return home_directory;
+
+	strbuf_addf(&buf, "%s/%s", getenv("HOMEDRIVE"), getenv("HOMEPATH"));
+	home_directory = strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL);
+
+	return home_directory;
+}
 int xutftowcsn(wchar_t *wcs, const char *utfs, size_t wcslen, int utflen)
 {
 	int upos = 0, wpos = 0;
@@ -2088,3 +2161,27 @@ void mingw_startup()
 	/* initialize Unicode console */
 	winansi_init();
 }
+
+int mingw_offset_1st_component(const char *path)
+{
+	int offset = 0;
+	if (has_dos_drive_prefix(path))
+		offset = 2;
+
+	/* unc paths */
+	else if (is_dir_sep(path[0]) && is_dir_sep(path[1])) {
+
+		/* skip server name */
+		char *pos = strpbrk(path + 2, "\\/");
+		if (!pos)
+			return 0; /* Error: malformed unc path */
+
+		do {
+			pos++;
+		} while (*pos && !is_dir_sep(*pos));
+
+		offset = pos - path;
+	}
+
+	return offset + is_dir_sep(path[offset]);
+}
diff --git a/compat/mingw.h b/compat/mingw.h
index 969738ccff..db2bcf3121 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.h
+++ b/compat/mingw.h
@@ -503,3 +503,6 @@ static int mingw_main(c,v)
  * Used by Pthread API implementation for Windows
  */
 extern int err_win_to_posix(DWORD winerr);
+
+extern const char *get_windows_home_directory();
+#define get_home_directory() get_windows_home_directory()
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index a30cb5c07d..e28f17c6bb 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -874,6 +874,15 @@ static int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (!strcmp(var, "core.hidedotfiles")) {
+		if (value && !strcasecmp(value, "dotgitonly")) {
+			hide_dotfiles = HIDE_DOTFILES_DOTGITONLY;
+			return 0;
+		}
+		hide_dotfiles = git_config_bool(var, value);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	/* Add other config variables here and to Documentation/config.txt. */
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index 5c4815dbe1..6366c85241 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ int merge_log_config = -1;
 int precomposed_unicode = -1; /* see probe_utf8_pathname_composition() */
 struct startup_info *startup_info;
 unsigned long pack_size_limit_cfg;
+enum hide_dotfiles_type hide_dotfiles = HIDE_DOTFILES_DOTGITONLY;
 
 /*
  * The character that begins a commented line in user-editable file
diff --git a/git-compat-util.h b/git-compat-util.h
index f6d3a46622..b7e145de62 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -723,4 +723,12 @@ struct tm *git_gmtime_r(const time_t *, struct tm *);
 #define gmtime_r git_gmtime_r
 #endif
 
+#ifndef mark_as_git_dir
+#define mark_as_git_dir(x) /* noop */
+#endif
+
+#ifndef get_home_directory
+#define get_home_directory() getenv("HOME")
+#endif
+
 #endif
diff --git a/path.c b/path.c
index f9c5062427..a5bb08cc3b 100644
--- a/path.c
+++ b/path.c
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ char *git_path(const char *fmt, ...)
 void home_config_paths(char **global, char **xdg, char *file)
 {
 	char *xdg_home = getenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME");
-	char *home = getenv("HOME");
+	const char *home = get_home_directory();
 	char *to_free = NULL;
 
 	if (!home) {
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ char *expand_user_path(const char *path)
 		const char *username = path + 1;
 		size_t username_len = first_slash - username;
 		if (username_len == 0) {
-			const char *home = getenv("HOME");
+			const char *home = get_home_directory();
 			if (!home)
 				goto return_null;
 			strbuf_add(&user_path, home, strlen(home));
diff --git a/shell.c b/shell.c
index 5c0d47a5cc..edd8c3a1c1 100644
--- a/shell.c
+++ b/shell.c
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ static char *make_cmd(const char *prog)
 
 static void cd_to_homedir(void)
 {
-	const char *home = getenv("HOME");
+	const char *home = get_home_directory();
 	if (!home)
 		die("could not determine user's home directory; HOME is unset");
 	if (chdir(home) == -1)
diff --git a/t/t0001-init.sh b/t/t0001-init.sh
index bbc9cb60dd..d356f2a327 100755
--- a/t/t0001-init.sh
+++ b/t/t0001-init.sh
@@ -332,4 +332,32 @@ test_expect_success SYMLINKS 're-init to move gitdir symlink' '
 	test_path_is_dir realgitdir/refs
 '
 
+# Tests for the hidden file attribute on windows
+is_hidden () {
+	test "1" -eq "$(echo puts [file attributes $1 -hidden]|tclsh)"
+}
+
+test_expect_success MINGW 'plain hidden' '
+	rm -rf newdir &&
+	(
+		unset GIT_DIR GIT_WORK_TREE
+		mkdir newdir &&
+		cd newdir &&
+		git init &&
+		is_hidden .git
+	) &&
+	check_config newdir/.git false unset
+'
+
+test_expect_success MINGW 'plain bare not hidden' '
+	rm -rf newdir
+	(
+		unset GIT_DIR GIT_WORK_TREE GIT_CONFIG
+		mkdir newdir &&
+		cd newdir &&
+		git --bare init
+	) &&
+	! is_hidden newdir
+'
+
 test_done