diff --git a/htroot/Crawler_p.java b/htroot/Crawler_p.java
index bf435f4f0..888ef9272 100644
--- a/htroot/Crawler_p.java
+++ b/htroot/Crawler_p.java
@@ -247,9 +247,13 @@ public class Crawler_p {
                 if (crawlName.length() == 0 && sitemapURLStr.length() > 0) crawlName = "sitemap loader for " + sitemapURLStr;
                 
                 // delete old robots entries
-                for (DigestURL ru: rootURLs) {
+                for (DigestURL ru : rootURLs) {
                     sb.robots.delete(ru);
-                    try {Cache.delete(RobotsTxt.robotsURL(RobotsTxt.getHostPort(ru)).hash());} catch (IOException e) {}
+                    try {
+                        if (ru.getHost() != null) { // might be null for file://
+                            Cache.delete(RobotsTxt.robotsURL(RobotsTxt.getHostPort(ru)).hash());
+                        }
+                    } catch (IOException e) {}
                 }
                 try {sb.robots.clear();} catch (IOException e) {} // to be safe: clear all.
                 
@@ -645,7 +649,7 @@ public class Crawler_p {
         prop.put("crawlProfilesShow_linkstructure", 0);
         if (count > 0) {
             // collect the host names for 'wide' crawls which can be visualized
-            boolean showLinkstructure = hosts.length() > 0;
+            boolean showLinkstructure = hosts.length() > 0 && !hosts.contains("file:");
             if (showLinkstructure) {
                 StringBuilder q = new StringBuilder();
                 hosts = hosts.substring(1);
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/cora/document/id/MultiProtocolURL.java b/source/net/yacy/cora/document/id/MultiProtocolURL.java
index 8c5a01b11..840e7c2ee 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/cora/document/id/MultiProtocolURL.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/cora/document/id/MultiProtocolURL.java
@@ -211,26 +211,25 @@ public class MultiProtocolURL implements Serializable, Comparable<MultiProtocolU
                 this.searchpart = null;
                 this.anchor = null;
             } else if (this.protocol.equals("file")) {
-                // parse file url
+                // parse file url (RFC 1738 file://host.domain/path file://localhost/path file:///path)
+                // example unix  file://localhost/etc/fstab
+                //               file:///etc/fstab
+                // example windows file://localhost/c|/WINDOWS/clock.avi
+                //                 file:///c|/WINDOWS/clock.avi
+                //                 file://localhost/c:/WINDOWS/clock.avi
+                //      network    file://hostname/path/to/the%20file.txt
+                //      local      file:///c:/path/to/the%20file.txt
                 final String h = url.substring(p + 1);
-                if (h.startsWith("//")) {
+                this.host = null; // host is ignored on file: protocol
+                if (h.startsWith("///")) { //absolute local file path
                     // no host given
-                    this.host = null;
-                    this.path = h.substring(2);
-                } else {
-                    this.host = null;
-                    if (h.length() > 0 && h.charAt(0) == '/') {
-                        final char c = h.charAt(2);
-                        if (c == ':' || c == '|')
-                            this.path = h.substring(1);
-                        else
-                            this.path = h;
+                    this.path = h.substring(2); // "/path"  or "/c:/path"
+                } else { // "//host/path" or "//host/c:/path"
+                    int q = url.indexOf('/', p + 3);
+                    if (q < 0) {
+                        this.path = "/";
                     } else {
-                        final char c = h.charAt(1);
-                        if (c == ':' || c == '|')
-                            this.path = h;
-                        else
-                            this.path = "/" + h;
+                        this.path = url.substring(q);
                     }
                 }
                 this.userInfo = null;
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/crawler/HostQueue.java b/source/net/yacy/crawler/HostQueue.java
index 9d58bce4a..2b1e050c0 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/crawler/HostQueue.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/crawler/HostQueue.java
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ public class HostQueue implements Balancer {
             final boolean exceed134217727) {
         this.onDemand = onDemand;
         this.exceed134217727 = exceed134217727;
-        this.hostName = hostName;
+        this.hostName = (hostName == null)  ? "localhost" : hostName; // might be null (file://) but hostqueue needs a name (for queue file)
         this.port = port;
         this.hostPath = new File(hostsPath, this.hostName + "." + this.port);
         init();
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ public class HostQueue implements Balancer {
     
     private final void init() {
         try {
+            if (this.hostName == null)
+                this.hostHash="";
+            else
             this.hostHash = DigestURL.hosthash(this.hostName, this.port);
         } catch (MalformedURLException e) {
             this.hostHash = "";