diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
index a376216c8e815..388259c7a9ca4 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterConfiguration.groovy
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class ClusterConfiguration {
         FileCollection file
         @Override
         String toString() {
-            return "file://${file.singleFile}"
+            return file.singleFile.toURI().toURL().toString();
         }
 
     }
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
index 72b76f0fea33d..3a06da929dd27 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
  */
 package org.elasticsearch.gradle.test
 
+import org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.condition.Os
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.ElasticsearchProperties
 import org.gradle.api.DefaultTask
 import org.gradle.api.GradleException
@@ -76,7 +77,12 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
         for (Map.Entry<String, String> command : config.setupCommands.entrySet()) {
             Task nextSetup = project.tasks.create(name: "${task.name}#${command.getKey()}", type: Exec, dependsOn: setup) {
                 workingDir home
-                executable 'sh'
+                if (Os.isFamily(Os.FAMILY_WINDOWS)) {
+                    executable 'cmd'
+                    args '/C', 'call'
+                } else {
+                    executable 'sh'
+                }
                 args command.getValue()
                 // only show output on failure, when not in info or debug mode
                 if (logger.isInfoEnabled() == false) {
@@ -95,42 +101,56 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
         }
 
         File pidFile = pidFile(baseDir)
-        Task start = project.tasks.create(name: "${task.name}#start", type: Exec, dependsOn: setup) {
-            workingDir home
-            executable 'sh'
-            List esArgs = [
-                'bin/elasticsearch',
-                '-d', // daemonize!
-                "-Des.http.port=${config.httpPort}",
-                "-Des.transport.tcp.port=${config.transportPort}",
-                "-Des.pidfile=${pidFile}",
-                "-Des.path.repo=${home}/repo",
-                "-Des.path.shared_data=${home}/../",
-            ]
-            esArgs.addAll(config.systemProperties.collect {key, value -> "-D${key}=${value}"})
-            args esArgs
-            errorOutput = new ByteArrayOutputStream()
-            doLast {
-                if (errorOutput.toString().isEmpty() == false) {
-                    logger.error(errorOutput.toString())
-                    new File(home, 'logs' + File.separator + clusterName + '.log').eachLine {
-                        line -> logger.error(line)
+        List esArgs = [
+            "-Des.http.port=${config.httpPort}",
+            "-Des.transport.tcp.port=${config.transportPort}",
+            "-Des.pidfile=${pidFile}",
+            "-Des.path.repo=${home}/repo",
+            "-Des.path.shared_data=${home}/../",
+        ]
+        esArgs.addAll(config.systemProperties.collect {key, value -> "-D${key}=${value}"})
+        Closure esPostStartActions = { ant, logger ->
+            ant.waitfor(maxwait: '30', maxwaitunit: 'second', checkevery: '500', checkeveryunit: 'millisecond', timeoutproperty: "failed${task.name}#start") {
+                and {
+                    resourceexists {
+                        file file: pidFile.toString()
                     }
-                    throw new GradleException('Failed to start elasticsearch')
+                    http(url: "http://localhost:${config.httpPort}")
                 }
-                ant.waitfor(maxwait: '30', maxwaitunit: 'second', checkevery: '500', checkeveryunit: 'millisecond', timeoutproperty: "failed${task.name}#start") {
-                    and {
-                        resourceexists {
-                            file file: pidFile.toString()
-                        }
-                        http(url: "http://localhost:${config.httpPort}")
-                    }
+            }
+            if (ant.properties.containsKey("failed${task.name}#start".toString())) {
+                new File(home, 'logs' + File.separator + clusterName + '.log').eachLine {
+                    line -> logger.error(line)
                 }
-                if (ant.properties.containsKey("failed${task.name}#start")) {
-                    new File(home, 'logs' + File.separator + clusterName + '.log').eachLine {
-                        line -> logger.error(line)
+                throw new GradleException('Failed to start elasticsearch')
+            }
+        }
+        Task start;
+        if (Os.isFamily(Os.FAMILY_WINDOWS)) {
+            // elasticsearch.bat is spawned as it has no daemon mode
+            start = project.tasks.create(name: "${task.name}#start", type: DefaultTask, dependsOn: setup) << {
+                // Fall back to Ant exec task as Gradle Exec task does not support spawning yet
+                ant.exec(executable: 'cmd', spawn: true, dir: home) {
+                    (['/C', 'call', 'bin/elasticsearch'] + esArgs).each { arg(value: it) }
+                }
+                esPostStartActions(ant, logger)
+            }
+        } else {
+            start = project.tasks.create(name: "${task.name}#start", type: Exec, dependsOn: setup) {
+                workingDir home
+                executable 'sh'
+                args 'bin/elasticsearch', '-d' // daemonize!
+                args esArgs
+                errorOutput = new ByteArrayOutputStream()
+                doLast {
+                    if (errorOutput.toString().isEmpty() == false) {
+                        logger.error(errorOutput.toString())
+                        new File(home, 'logs' + File.separator + clusterName + '.log').eachLine {
+                            line -> logger.error(line)
+                        }
+                        throw new GradleException('Failed to start elasticsearch')
                     }
-                    throw new GradleException('Failed to start elasticsearch')
+                    esPostStartActions(ant, logger)
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -140,8 +160,13 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
     static void addNodeStopTask(Project project, Task task, File baseDir) {
         LazyPidReader pidFile = new LazyPidReader(pidFile: pidFile(baseDir))
         Task stop = project.tasks.create(name: task.name + '#stop', type: Exec) {
-            executable 'kill'
-            args '-9', pidFile
+            if (Os.isFamily(Os.FAMILY_WINDOWS)) {
+                executable 'Taskkill'
+                args '/PID', pidFile, '/F'
+            } else {
+                executable 'kill'
+                args '-9', pidFile
+            }
             doLast {
                 // TODO: wait for pid to close, or kill -9 and fail
             }
diff --git a/test-framework/build.gradle b/test-framework/build.gradle
index 8496b6c83d72e..499985fa889b6 100644
--- a/test-framework/build.gradle
+++ b/test-framework/build.gradle
@@ -28,70 +28,41 @@ project.ext {
   srcDir = new File(project.buildDir, 'src')
   coreDir = new File(project("${projectsPrefix}:core").projectDir, 'src' + File.separator + 'test')
 }
-class ExecHack extends DefaultTask {
-  File srcDir = project.ext.srcDir
-  File coreDir = project.ext.coreDir
-  List commands = ["rm -rf ${srcDir}", "mkdir -p ${srcDir}"]
-  void copy(String path) {
-    File corePath = project.file("${coreDir}/${path}")
-    File srcPath = project.file("${srcDir}/${path}")
-    String dir = path
-    if (corePath.isDirectory()) {
-      srcPath = srcPath.getParentFile() 
-    } else {
-      dir = coreDir.toURI().relativize(corePath.getParentFile().toURI()).getPath()
-    }
-    commands.add("mkdir -p ${srcDir}/${dir}")
-    commands.add("cp -a ${corePath} ${srcPath}")
-  }
-  void remove(String path) {
-    commands.add("rm -rf ${srcDir}/${path}")
-  }
-  @TaskAction
-  void executeHack() {
-    for (String command : commands) {
-      logger.info(command)
-      def p = command.execute()
-      p.waitFor()
-      if (p.exitValue()) {
-        logger.error(p.text)
-        throw new GradleException("Failed to execute '${command}'")
-      }
-    }
-  } 
-}
 sourceSets.main.java.srcDir(new File(srcDir, "java"))
 sourceSets.main.resources.srcDir(new File(srcDir, "resources"))
-task copySourceFiles(type: ExecHack) {
-  copy 'resources/log4j.properties'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/test'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/MockPluginPolicy.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/CliToolTestCase.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/MockInternalClusterInfoService.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/index/MockEngineFactoryPlugin.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/MockSearchService.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/AbstractTermsTestCase.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/script/NativeSignificanceScoreScriptNoParams.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/script/NativeSignificanceScoreScriptWithParams.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/script/TestScript.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/AbstractNumericTestCase.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/percolator/PercolatorTestUtil.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/cache/recycler/MockPageCacheRecycler.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/MockBigArrays.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/node/NodeMocksPlugin.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/node/MockNode.java'
-  copy 'java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/PathUtilsForTesting.java'
-  // unit tests for yaml suite parser & rest spec parser need to be excluded
-  remove 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/test'
-  // unit tests for test framework classes
-  remove 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/test'
+task copySourceFiles(type: Sync) {
+ from(coreDir) {
+   include 'resources/log4j.properties'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/**'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/BootstrapForTesting.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/bootstrap/MockPluginPolicy.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/CliToolTestCase.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/MockInternalClusterInfoService.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/index/MockEngineFactoryPlugin.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/MockSearchService.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/AbstractTermsTestCase.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/script/NativeSignificanceScoreScriptNoParams.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/script/NativeSignificanceScoreScriptWithParams.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/bucket/script/TestScript.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/search/aggregations/metrics/AbstractNumericTestCase.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/percolator/PercolatorTestUtil.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/cache/recycler/MockPageCacheRecycler.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/common/util/MockBigArrays.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/node/NodeMocksPlugin.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/node/MockNode.java'
+   include 'java/org/elasticsearch/common/io/PathUtilsForTesting.java'
+   // unit tests for yaml suite parser & rest spec parser need to be excluded
+   exclude 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/rest/test/**'
+   // unit tests for test framework classes
+   exclude 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/test/**'
 
-  // no geo (requires optional deps)
-  remove 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchGeoAssertions.java'
-  remove 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/geo/RandomShapeGenerator.java'
-  // this mock is just for a single logging test
-  remove 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/MockLogAppender.java'
+   // no geo (requires optional deps)
+   exclude 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/hamcrest/ElasticsearchGeoAssertions.java'
+   exclude 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/geo/RandomShapeGenerator.java'
+   // this mock is just for a single logging test
+   exclude 'java/org/elasticsearch/test/MockLogAppender.java'
+ }
+ into srcDir
 }
 compileJava.dependsOn copySourceFiles