diff --git a/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py b/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py
index 8f22261f5d..5e9a350d46 100644
--- a/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py
+++ b/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py
@@ -397,7 +397,8 @@ def parse_location(location: str, properties: Properties = EMPTY_DICT) -> tuple[
         """
         uri = urlparse(location)
 
-        if not uri.scheme:
+        if not uri.scheme or (len(uri.scheme) == 1 and uri.scheme.isalpha()):
+            # len == 1 and alpha catches Windows drive letters like C:\ D:\
             default_scheme = properties.get("DEFAULT_SCHEME", "file")
             default_netloc = properties.get("DEFAULT_NETLOC", "")
             return default_scheme, default_netloc, os.path.abspath(location)
@@ -406,6 +407,7 @@ def parse_location(location: str, properties: Properties = EMPTY_DICT) -> tuple[
         else:
             return uri.scheme, uri.netloc, f"{uri.netloc}{uri.path}"
 
+
     def _initialize_fs(self, scheme: str, netloc: str | None = None) -> FileSystem:
         """Initialize FileSystem for different scheme."""
         if scheme in {"oss"}: