diff --git a/v-next/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity/build-system/compiler/compiler.ts b/v-next/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity/build-system/compiler/compiler.ts
index bae37b94061..d41cdfa6844 100644
--- a/v-next/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity/build-system/compiler/compiler.ts
+++ b/v-next/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity/build-system/compiler/compiler.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import type {
 import { execFile } from "node:child_process";
 import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
-import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from "node:url";
 
 import {
   HardhatError,
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ export class SolcJsCompiler implements Compiler {
   ) {}
 
   public async compile(input: CompilerInput): Promise<any> {
-    const scriptPath = fileURLToPath(import.meta.resolve("./solcjs-runner.js"));
+    const scriptFileUrl = import.meta.resolve("./solcjs-runner.js");
+    const scriptPath = fileURLToPath(scriptFileUrl);
 
     // If the script is a TypeScript file, we need to pass the --import tsx/esm
     // which is available, as we are running the tests
@@ -45,11 +46,22 @@ export class SolcJsCompiler implements Compiler {
       ? ["--import", "tsx/esm"]
       : [];
 
+    const args = [...nodeOptions];
+
+    // NOTE: We're using file URLs on Windows instead of paths because only URLs
+    // with a scheme are supported by the default ESM loader there.
+    if (os.platform() === "win32" && scriptPath.endsWith(".ts")) {
+      const compilerFileUrl = pathToFileURL(this.compilerPath);
+      args.push(scriptFileUrl, compilerFileUrl.href);
+    } else {
+      args.push(scriptPath, this.compilerPath);
+    }
+
     const output: string = await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
       try {
         const subprocess = execFile(
           process.execPath,
-          [...nodeOptions, scriptPath, this.compilerPath],
+          args,
           {
             maxBuffer: COMPILATION_SUBPROCESS_IO_BUFFER_SIZE,
           },
diff --git a/v-next/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity/build-system/compiler/index.ts b/v-next/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity/build-system/compiler/index.ts
index 9f7791bceac..0142b72b306 100644
--- a/v-next/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity/build-system/compiler/index.ts
+++ b/v-next/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/solidity/build-system/compiler/index.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import { spawn } from "../../../../../../src/internal/cli/init/subprocess.js";
 
 const solcVersion = "0.6.6";
 
-describe(
+describe.only(
   "Compiler",
   {
     skip: process.env.HARDHAT_DISABLE_SLOW_TESTS === "true",