diff --git a/src/vcpkg/tools.cpp b/src/vcpkg/tools.cpp
index 9836d269d5..20c19af394 100644
--- a/src/vcpkg/tools.cpp
+++ b/src/vcpkg/tools.cpp
@@ -292,6 +292,13 @@ namespace vcpkg
                                                    MessageSink& status_sink,
                                                    const Path& exe_path) const = 0;
 
+        // returns true if and only if `exe_path` is a usable version of this tool, cheap check
+        virtual bool cheap_is_acceptable(const Path& exe_path) const
+        {
+            (void)exe_path;
+            return true;
+        }
+
         // returns true if and only if `exe_path` is a usable version of this tool
         virtual bool is_acceptable(const Path& exe_path) const
         {
@@ -344,6 +351,14 @@ namespace vcpkg
                 out_candidate_paths.push_back(*pf / "CMake" / "bin" / "cmake.exe");
             }
         }
+
+        virtual bool cheap_is_acceptable(const Path& exe_path) const override
+        {
+            // the cmake version from mysys and cygwin can not be used because that version can't handle 'C:' in paths
+            auto path = exe_path.generic_u8string();
+            return !Strings::ends_with(path, "/usr/bin") && !Strings::ends_with(path, "/cygwin64/bin");
+        }
+
 #endif
         virtual ExpectedL<std::string> get_version(const ToolCache&, MessageSink&, const Path& exe_path) const override
         {
@@ -765,6 +780,7 @@ namespace vcpkg
             for (auto&& candidate : candidates)
             {
                 if (!fs.exists(candidate, IgnoreErrors{})) continue;
+                if (!tool_provider.cheap_is_acceptable(candidate)) continue;
                 auto maybe_version = tool_provider.get_version(*this, status_sink, candidate);
                 log_candidate(candidate, maybe_version);
                 const auto version = maybe_version.get();