diff --git a/src/vs/base/common/extpath.ts b/src/vs/base/common/extpath.ts
index ae6e731f809f1f545ea7b5de1bff146018372647..20d271c2fcc2377a81a490f9e66efbd2cb393e78 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/common/extpath.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/common/extpath.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,15 @@ function _isNormal(path: string, win: boolean): boolean {
 		: !_posixBadPath.test(path);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Takes a Windows OS path and changes backward slashes to forward slashes.
+ * This should only be done for OS paths from Windows (or user provided paths potentially from Windows).
+ * Using it on a Linux or MaxOS path might change it.
+ */
+export function toForwardSlashes(osPath: string) {
+	return osPath.replace(/[\\/]/g, '/');
+}
+
 export function normalize(path: undefined, toOSPath?: boolean): undefined;
 export function normalize(path: null, toOSPath?: boolean): null;
 export function normalize(path: string, toOSPath?: boolean): string;
diff --git a/src/vs/base/test/common/extpath.test.ts b/src/vs/base/test/common/extpath.test.ts
index d324df27eb30b20e3f952329f2e5734961f72881..c97a8bd7ff9499121b604218ebdb30ef30c420d4 100644
--- a/src/vs/base/test/common/extpath.test.ts
+++ b/src/vs/base/test/common/extpath.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ import * as platform from 'vs/base/common/platform';
 
 suite('Paths', () => {
 
+	test('toForwardSlashes', () => {
+		assert.equal(extpath.toForwardSlashes('\\\\server\\share\\some\\path'), '//server/share/some/path');
+		assert.equal(extpath.toForwardSlashes('c:\\test'), 'c:/test');
+		assert.equal(extpath.toForwardSlashes('foo\\bar'), 'foo/bar');
+		assert.equal(extpath.toForwardSlashes('/user/far'), '/user/far');
+	});
+
+
 	test('normalize', () => {
 		assert.equal(extpath.normalize(''), '.');
 		assert.equal(extpath.normalize('.'), '.');
@@ -54,7 +62,7 @@ suite('Paths', () => {
 		assert.equal(extpath.join('/home/aeschli/workspaces/vscode/extensions/css', './syntaxes/css.plist'), '/home/aeschli/workspaces/vscode/extensions/css/syntaxes/css.plist');
 	});
 
-	test('getRootLength', () => {
+	test('getRoot', () => {
 
 		assert.equal(extpath.getRoot('/user/far'), '/');
 		assert.equal(extpath.getRoot('\\\\server\\share\\some\\path'), '//server/share/');