diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 6e53fc5074..24a9e2d641 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -210,6 +210,12 @@ 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.ignoreCygwinFSTricks::
 	This option is only used by Cygwin implementation of Git. If false,
 	the Cygwin stat() and lstat() functions are used. This may be useful
diff --git a/builtin/init-db.c b/builtin/init-db.c
index 78aa3872dd..a8902932b9 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 94ca1acf70..6c1242a77c 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -578,6 +578,13 @@ 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 b673625580..08ee8e6264 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.c
+++ b/compat/mingw.c
@@ -3,8 +3,10 @@
 #include <conio.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)
 {
@@ -280,6 +282,38 @@ int mingw_rmdir(const char *pathname)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+static int make_hidden(const char *path)
+{
+	DWORD attribs = GetFileAttributes(path);
+	if (SetFileAttributes(path, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_HIDDEN | attribs))
+		return 0;
+	errno = err_win_to_posix(GetLastError());
+	return -1;
+}
+
+void mingw_mark_as_git_dir(const char *dir)
+{
+	if (hide_dotfiles != HIDE_DOTFILES_FALSE && make_hidden(dir))
+		warning("Failed to make '%s' hidden", dir);
+}
+
+#undef mkdir
+int mingw_mkdir(const char *path, int mode)
+{
+	int ret = mkdir(path);
+	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(path);
+	}
+	return ret;
+}
+
 #undef open
 int mingw_open (const char *filename, int oflags, ...)
 {
@@ -301,6 +335,17 @@ 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(filename))
+			warning("Could not mark '%s' as hidden.", filename);
+	}
 	return fd;
 }
 
@@ -349,17 +394,33 @@ int mingw_fgetc(FILE *stream)
 #undef fopen
 FILE *mingw_fopen (const char *filename, const char *otype)
 {
+	int hide = 0;
+	FILE *file;
+	if (hide_dotfiles == HIDE_DOTFILES_TRUE &&
+	    basename((char*)filename)[0] == '.')
+		hide = access(filename, F_OK);
 	if (filename && !strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
 		filename = "nul";
-	return fopen(filename, otype);
+	file = fopen(filename, otype);
+	if (file && hide && make_hidden(filename))
+		warning("Could not mark '%s' as hidden.", filename);
+	return file;
 }
 
 #undef freopen
 FILE *mingw_freopen (const char *filename, const char *otype, FILE *stream)
 {
+	int hide = 0;
+	FILE *file;
+	if (hide_dotfiles == HIDE_DOTFILES_TRUE &&
+	    basename((char*)filename)[0] == '.')
+		hide = access(filename, F_OK);
 	if (filename && !strcmp(filename, "/dev/null"))
 		filename = "nul";
-	return freopen(filename, otype, stream);
+	file = freopen(filename, otype, stream);
+	if (file && hide && make_hidden(filename))
+		warning("Could not mark '%s' as hidden.", filename);
+	return file;
 }
 
 #undef fflush
diff --git a/compat/mingw.h b/compat/mingw.h
index 685cd2c3d4..d285ed3b0c 100644
--- a/compat/mingw.h
+++ b/compat/mingw.h
@@ -112,10 +112,7 @@ static inline int fcntl(int fd, int cmd, ...)
  * simple adaptors
  */
 
-static inline int mingw_mkdir(const char *path, int mode)
-{
-	return mkdir(path);
-}
+int mingw_mkdir(const char *path, int mode);
 #define mkdir mingw_mkdir
 
 #define WNOHANG 1
@@ -326,6 +323,9 @@ static inline char *mingw_find_last_dir_sep(const char *path)
 void mingw_open_html(const char *path);
 #define open_html mingw_open_html
 
+void mingw_mark_as_git_dir(const char *dir);
+#define mark_as_git_dir mingw_mark_as_git_dir
+
 /*
  * helpers
  */
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index aefd80b12a..a013028929 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -774,6 +774,15 @@ 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 e2e75c1660..b422862ed4 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ 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 e955bb5e8b..59868c9ae6 100644
--- a/git-compat-util.h
+++ b/git-compat-util.h
@@ -701,4 +701,8 @@ void warn_on_inaccessible(const char *path);
 /* Get the passwd entry for the UID of the current process. */
 struct passwd *xgetpwuid_self(void);
 
+#ifndef mark_as_git_dir
+#define mark_as_git_dir(x) /* noop */
+#endif
+
 #endif