diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 45f34dec7..f0a45fe6b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -33,8 +33,9 @@ else:
         # breaks inside older setuptools' sandboxing. 0.6c4 is the first
         # version which fixed this problem.
         min_version='0.6c4'
+    downloadbase = os.path.join('misc', 'dependencies')+os.path.sep
     use_setuptools(min_version=min_version,
-                   download_base="file:%s" % os.path.join('misc', 'dependencies'),
+                   download_base=download_base,
                    download_delay=0)
 
 from setuptools import Extension, find_packages, setup