diff --git a/src/win/tty.c b/src/win/tty.c
index 349e2064..63222e36 100644
--- a/src/win/tty.c
+++ b/src/win/tty.c
@@ -110,6 +110,24 @@ int uv_tty_init(uv_loop_t* loop, uv_tty_t* tty, uv_file fd, int readable) {
   if (handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
     return UV_EBADF;
 
+  if (fd <= 2) {
+    /* In order to avoid closing a stdio file descriptor 0-2, duplicate the
+     * underlying OS handle and forget about the original fd.
+     * We could also opt to use the original OS handle and just never close it,
+     * but then there would be no reliable way to cancel pending read operations
+     * upon close.
+     */
+    if (!DuplicateHandle(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE,
+                         handle,
+                         INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE,
+                         &handle,
+                         0,
+                         FALSE,
+                         DUPLICATE_SAME_ACCESS))
+      return uv_translate_sys_error(GetLastError());
+    fd = -1;
+  }
+
   if (!readable) {
     /* Obtain the screen buffer info with the output handle. */
     if (!GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(handle, &screen_buffer_info)) {
@@ -1916,6 +1934,7 @@ void uv_process_tty_write_req(uv_loop_t* loop, uv_tty_t* handle,
 
 
 void uv_tty_close(uv_tty_t* handle) {
+  assert(handle->u.fd == -1 || handle->u.fd > 2);
   if (handle->u.fd == -1)
     CloseHandle(handle->handle);
   else