diff --git a/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py b/pyiceberg/io/pyarrow.py
index 8f22261f5d..990ed56ce6 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)