diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
index d4118aba6..b677e67d4 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2012-02-21  Corinna Vinschen  <corinna@vinschen.de>
+
+	Based on an idea from Nick Lowe <nick.lowe@gmail.com>:
+	* shared.cc (shared_info::init_obcaseinsensitive): Check actual state
+	of case sensitivity on post-Windows 2000 systems.
+	* wincap.h (wincaps::kernel_is_always_casesensitive): New element.
+	* wincap.cc: Implement above element throughout.
+
 2012-02-20  Corinna Vinschen  <corinna@vinschen.de>
 
 	* flock.cc (inode_t::del_my_locks): Drop useless counter lc.  Close
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/shared.cc b/winsup/cygwin/shared.cc
index 86f93c269..7a0b2510b 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/shared.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/shared.cc
@@ -286,23 +286,44 @@ shared_destroy ()
   UnmapViewOfFile (user_shared);
 }
 
-/* Initialize obcaseinsensitive.  Default to case insensitive on pre-XP. */
+/* Initialize obcaseinsensitive.*/
 void
 shared_info::init_obcaseinsensitive ()
 {
-  NTSTATUS status;
-  DWORD def_obcaseinsensitive = 1;
+  if (wincap.kernel_is_always_casesensitive ())
+    {
+      /* Only Windows 2000.  Default to case insensitive unless the user
+      	 sets the obcaseinsensitive registry value explicitely to 0. */
+      DWORD def_obcaseinsensitive = 1;
 
-  obcaseinsensitive = def_obcaseinsensitive;
-  RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_TABLE tab[2] = {
-    { NULL, RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT | RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_NOSTRING,
-      L"obcaseinsensitive", &obcaseinsensitive, REG_DWORD,
-      &def_obcaseinsensitive, sizeof (DWORD) },
-    { NULL, 0, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, 0 }
-  };
-  status = RtlQueryRegistryValues (RTL_REGISTRY_CONTROL,
-				   L"Session Manager\\kernel",
-				   tab, NULL, NULL);
+      obcaseinsensitive = def_obcaseinsensitive;
+      RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_TABLE tab[2] = {
+	{ NULL, RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_DIRECT | RTL_QUERY_REGISTRY_NOSTRING,
+	  L"obcaseinsensitive", &obcaseinsensitive, REG_DWORD,
+	  &def_obcaseinsensitive, sizeof (DWORD) },
+	{ NULL, 0, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, 0 }
+      };
+      RtlQueryRegistryValues (RTL_REGISTRY_CONTROL,
+			      L"Session Manager\\kernel",
+			      tab, NULL, NULL);
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      /* Instead of reading the obcaseinsensitive registry value, test the
+	 actual state of case sensitivity handling in the kernel. */
+      UNICODE_STRING sysroot;
+      OBJECT_ATTRIBUTES attr;
+      HANDLE h;
+
+      RtlInitUnicodeString (&sysroot, L"\\SYSTEMROOT");
+      InitializeObjectAttributes (&attr, &sysroot, 0, NULL, NULL);
+      /* NtOpenSymbolicLinkObject returns STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED when called
+      	 with a 0 access mask.  However, if the kernel is case sensitive,
+	 it returns STATUS_OBJECT_NAME_NOT_FOUND because we used the incorrect
+	 case for the filename (It's actually "\\SystemRoot"). */
+      obcaseinsensitive = NtOpenSymbolicLinkObject (&h, 0, &attr)
+			  != STATUS_OBJECT_NAME_NOT_FOUND;
+    }
 }
 
 void inline
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/wincap.cc b/winsup/cygwin/wincap.cc
index 91af3c624..6fe172f77 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/wincap.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/wincap.cc
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ wincaps wincap_2000 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
   has_console_logon_sid:false,
   wow64_has_secondary_stack:false,
   has_program_compatibility_assitant:false,
+  kernel_is_always_casesensitive:true,
 };
 
 wincaps wincap_2000sp4 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
@@ -87,6 +88,7 @@ wincaps wincap_2000sp4 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) =
   has_console_logon_sid:false,
   wow64_has_secondary_stack:false,
   has_program_compatibility_assitant:false,
+  kernel_is_always_casesensitive:true,
 };
 
 wincaps wincap_xp __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
@@ -120,6 +122,7 @@ wincaps wincap_xp __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
   has_console_logon_sid:false,
   wow64_has_secondary_stack:false,
   has_program_compatibility_assitant:false,
+  kernel_is_always_casesensitive:false,
 };
 
 wincaps wincap_xpsp1 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
@@ -153,6 +156,7 @@ wincaps wincap_xpsp1 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
   has_console_logon_sid:false,
   wow64_has_secondary_stack:false,
   has_program_compatibility_assitant:false,
+  kernel_is_always_casesensitive:false,
 };
 
 wincaps wincap_xpsp2 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
@@ -186,6 +190,7 @@ wincaps wincap_xpsp2 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
   has_console_logon_sid:false,
   wow64_has_secondary_stack:false,
   has_program_compatibility_assitant:false,
+  kernel_is_always_casesensitive:false,
 };
 
 wincaps wincap_2003 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
@@ -219,6 +224,7 @@ wincaps wincap_2003 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
   has_console_logon_sid:false,
   wow64_has_secondary_stack:true,
   has_program_compatibility_assitant:false,
+  kernel_is_always_casesensitive:false,
 };
 
 wincaps wincap_vista __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
@@ -252,6 +258,7 @@ wincaps wincap_vista __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
   has_console_logon_sid:false,
   wow64_has_secondary_stack:false,
   has_program_compatibility_assitant:true,
+  kernel_is_always_casesensitive:false,
 };
 
 wincaps wincap_7 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
@@ -285,6 +292,7 @@ wincaps wincap_7 __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared)) = {
   has_console_logon_sid:true,
   wow64_has_secondary_stack:false,
   has_program_compatibility_assitant:true,
+  kernel_is_always_casesensitive:false,
 };
 
 wincapc wincap __attribute__((section (".cygwin_dll_common"), shared));
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/wincap.h b/winsup/cygwin/wincap.h
index 87620286d..3ca5d87ea 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/wincap.h
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/wincap.h
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ struct wincaps
   unsigned has_console_logon_sid			: 1;
   unsigned wow64_has_secondary_stack			: 1;
   unsigned has_program_compatibility_assitant		: 1;
+  unsigned kernel_is_always_casesensitive		: 1;
 };
 
 class wincapc
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ public:
   bool	IMPLEMENT (has_console_logon_sid)
   bool	IMPLEMENT (wow64_has_secondary_stack)
   bool	IMPLEMENT (has_program_compatibility_assitant)
+  bool	IMPLEMENT (kernel_is_always_casesensitive)
 
 #undef IMPLEMENT
 };