diff --git a/src/libs/utils/filepath.cpp b/src/libs/utils/filepath.cpp
index 4ec1d026f75..18fc4be7c46 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/filepath.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/utils/filepath.cpp
@@ -454,14 +454,21 @@ FilePath FilePath::fromUrl(const QUrl &url)
     return fn;
 }
 
+static QString hostEncoded(QString host)
+{
+    host.replace('%', "%25");
+    host.replace('/', "%2f");
+    return host;
+}
+
 /// \returns a QString for passing on to QString based APIs
 QString FilePath::toString() const
 {
     if (m_scheme.isEmpty())
         return m_data;
     if (m_data.startsWith('/'))
-        return m_scheme + "://" + m_host + m_data;
-    return m_scheme + "://" + m_host + "/./" + m_data;
+        return m_scheme + "://" + hostEncoded(m_host) + m_data;
+    return m_scheme + "://" + hostEncoded(m_host) + "/./" + m_data;
 }
 
 QUrl FilePath::toUrl() const
@@ -595,7 +602,6 @@ void FilePath::setScheme(const QString &scheme)
 
 void FilePath::setHost(const QString &host)
 {
-    QTC_CHECK(!host.contains('/'));
     m_host = host;
 }
 
@@ -943,6 +949,8 @@ void FilePath::setFromString(const QString &filename)
                 m_data = filename.mid(pos1);
             } else {
                 m_host = filename.mid(pos1, pos2 - pos1);
+                m_host.replace("%2f", "/");
+                m_host.replace("%25", "%");
                 m_data = filename.mid(pos2);
             }
             if (m_data.startsWith("/./"))
diff --git a/src/libs/utils/filepath.h b/src/libs/utils/filepath.h
index 501feff17b0..b3c035ea870 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/filepath.h
+++ b/src/libs/utils/filepath.h
@@ -105,7 +105,6 @@ public:
     bool endsWith(const QString &s) const;
 
     bool exists() const;
-    bool needsDevice() const;
 
     FilePath parentDir() const;
     bool isChildOf(const FilePath &s) const;
@@ -191,6 +190,13 @@ public:
                            qint64 maxSize = -1, qint64 offset = 0) const;
     void asyncWriteFileContents(const Continuation<bool> &cont, const QByteArray &data) const;
 
+    // Prefer not to use
+    // Using needsDevice() in "user" code is likely to result in code that
+    // makes a local/remote distinction which should be avoided in general.
+    // There are usually other means available. E.g. distinguishing based
+    // on FilePath::osType().
+    bool needsDevice() const;
+
     // Deprecated.
     [[nodiscard]] static FilePath fromFileInfo(const QFileInfo &info); // Avoid.
     [[nodiscard]] QFileInfo toFileInfo() const; // Avoid.
@@ -205,7 +211,7 @@ private:
     [[nodiscard]] QString mapToDevicePath() const;
 
     QString m_scheme;
-    QString m_host;
+    QString m_host; // May contain raw slashes.
     QString m_data;
 };