diff --git a/crates/polars-plan/src/plans/hive.rs b/crates/polars-plan/src/plans/hive.rs
index a711aeb11848..d99054cb405c 100644
--- a/crates/polars-plan/src/plans/hive.rs
+++ b/crates/polars-plan/src/plans/hive.rs
@@ -231,21 +231,18 @@ pub fn hive_partitions_from_paths(
 }
 
 /// Determine the path separator for identifying Hive partitions.
-#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
-fn separator(url: &Path) -> char {
-    if polars_io::path_utils::is_cloud_url(url) {
-        '/'
+fn separator(url: &Path) -> &[char] {
+    if cfg!(target_family = "windows") {
+        if polars_io::path_utils::is_cloud_url(url) {
+            &['/']
+        } else {
+            &['/', '\\']
+        }
     } else {
-        '\\'
+        &['/']
     }
 }
 
-/// Determine the path separator for identifying Hive partitions.
-#[cfg(not(target_os = "windows"))]
-fn separator(_url: &Path) -> char {
-    '/'
-}
-
 /// Parse a Hive partition string (e.g. "column=1.5") into a name and value part.
 ///
 /// Returns `None` if the string is not a Hive partition string.
diff --git a/py-polars/tests/unit/io/test_hive.py b/py-polars/tests/unit/io/test_hive.py
index 87275279db4a..2b0cf5bb7847 100644
--- a/py-polars/tests/unit/io/test_hive.py
+++ b/py-polars/tests/unit/io/test_hive.py
@@ -785,7 +785,7 @@ def test_hive_predicate_dates_14712(
 @pytest.mark.write_disk
 def test_hive_windows_path_separator(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     tmp_path = tmp_path.resolve()
-    path = f"{tmp_path}/a=1/b=1\\c=1\\d=1/e=1"
+    path = f"{tmp_path}/a=1/b=1/c=1/d=1/e=1"
     Path(path).mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)
 
     df = pl.DataFrame({"x": "x"})