diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index e7a986c48a111cfeabde278cff29be806897c44a..65fce8031a9f3fb0d8ab777446d0dbf2009a8bae 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -70,6 +70,39 @@ static BlockDriverState *bs_snapshots;
 /* If non-zero, use only whitelisted block drivers */
 static int use_bdrv_whitelist;
 
+#ifdef _WIN32
+static int is_windows_drive_prefix(const char *filename)
+{
+    return (((filename[0] >= 'a' && filename[0] <= 'z') ||
+             (filename[0] >= 'A' && filename[0] <= 'Z')) &&
+            filename[1] == ':');
+}
+
+int is_windows_drive(const char *filename)
+{
+    if (is_windows_drive_prefix(filename) &&
+        filename[2] == '\0')
+        return 1;
+    if (strstart(filename, "\\\\.\\", NULL) ||
+        strstart(filename, "//./", NULL))
+        return 1;
+    return 0;
+}
+#endif
+
+/* check if the path starts with "<protocol>:" */
+static int path_has_protocol(const char *path)
+{
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    if (is_windows_drive(path) ||
+        is_windows_drive_prefix(path)) {
+        return 0;
+    }
+#endif
+
+    return strchr(path, ':') != NULL;
+}
+
 int path_is_absolute(const char *path)
 {
     const char *p;
@@ -244,26 +277,6 @@ void get_tmp_filename(char *filename, int size)
 }
 #endif
 
-#ifdef _WIN32
-static int is_windows_drive_prefix(const char *filename)
-{
-    return (((filename[0] >= 'a' && filename[0] <= 'z') ||
-             (filename[0] >= 'A' && filename[0] <= 'Z')) &&
-            filename[1] == ':');
-}
-
-int is_windows_drive(const char *filename)
-{
-    if (is_windows_drive_prefix(filename) &&
-        filename[2] == '\0')
-        return 1;
-    if (strstart(filename, "\\\\.\\", NULL) ||
-        strstart(filename, "//./", NULL))
-        return 1;
-    return 0;
-}
-#endif
-
 /*
  * Detect host devices. By convention, /dev/cdrom[N] is always
  * recognized as a host CDROM.
@@ -307,16 +320,11 @@ BlockDriver *bdrv_find_protocol(const char *filename)
         return drv1;
     }
 
-#ifdef _WIN32
-     if (is_windows_drive(filename) ||
-         is_windows_drive_prefix(filename))
-         return bdrv_find_format("file");
-#endif
-
-    p = strchr(filename, ':');
-    if (!p) {
+    if (!path_has_protocol(filename)) {
         return bdrv_find_format("file");
     }
+    p = strchr(filename, ':');
+    assert(p != NULL);
     len = p - filename;
     if (len > sizeof(protocol) - 1)
         len = sizeof(protocol) - 1;