diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
index 1302a61c83..15a67dec35 100644
--- a/help.c
+++ b/help.c
@@ -165,6 +165,32 @@ static void pretty_print_string_list(struct cmdnames *cmds, int longest)
 	}
 }
 
+static int is_executable(const char *name)
+{
+	struct stat st;
+
+	if (stat(name, &st) || /* stat, not lstat */
+	    !S_ISREG(st.st_mode))
+		return 0;
+
+#ifdef __MINGW32__
+	/* cannot trust the executable bit, peek into the file instead */
+	char buf[3] = { 0 };
+	int n;
+	int fd = open(name, O_RDONLY);
+	st.st_mode &= ~S_IXUSR;
+	if (fd >= 0) {
+		n = read(fd, buf, 2);
+		if (n == 2)
+			/* DOS executables start with "MZ" */
+			if (!strcmp(buf, "#!") || !strcmp(buf, "MZ"))
+				st.st_mode |= S_IXUSR;
+		close(fd);
+	}
+#endif
+	return st.st_mode & S_IXUSR;
+}
+
 static unsigned int list_commands_in_dir(struct cmdnames *cmds,
 					 const char *path)
 {
@@ -178,15 +204,12 @@ static unsigned int list_commands_in_dir(struct cmdnames *cmds,
 		return 0;
 
 	while ((de = readdir(dir)) != NULL) {
-		struct stat st;
 		int entlen;
 
 		if (prefixcmp(de->d_name, prefix))
 			continue;
 
-		if (stat(de->d_name, &st) || /* stat, not lstat */
-		    !S_ISREG(st.st_mode) ||
-		    !(st.st_mode & S_IXUSR))
+		if (!is_executable(de->d_name))
 			continue;
 
 		entlen = strlen(de->d_name) - prefix_len;
@@ -210,6 +233,11 @@ static void list_commands(void)
 	const char *env_path = getenv("PATH");
 	char *paths, *path, *colon;
 	const char *exec_path = git_exec_path();
+#ifdef __MINGW32__
+	char sep = ';';
+#else
+	char sep = ':';
+#endif
 
 	if (exec_path)
 		longest = list_commands_in_dir(&main_cmds, exec_path);
@@ -221,7 +249,7 @@ static void list_commands(void)
 
 	path = paths = xstrdup(env_path);
 	while (1) {
-		if ((colon = strchr(path, ':')))
+		if ((colon = strchr(path, sep)))
 			*colon = 0;
 
 		len = list_commands_in_dir(&other_cmds, path);