diff --git a/src/fileio.cpp b/src/fileio.cpp
index 110b19ce3bfe5..5bda07ad70bfe 100644
--- a/src/fileio.cpp
+++ b/src/fileio.cpp
@@ -200,10 +200,6 @@ static std::optional<FileHandle> FioFOpenFileSp(const std::string &filename, con
 		buf = _searchpaths[sp] + _subdirs[subdir] + filename;
 	}
 
-#if defined(_WIN32)
-	if (mode[0] == 'r' && GetFileAttributes(OTTD2FS(buf).c_str()) == INVALID_FILE_ATTRIBUTES) return nullptr;
-#endif
-
 	auto f = FileHandle::Open(buf, mode);
 #if !defined(_WIN32)
 	if (!f && strtolower(buf, subdir == NO_DIRECTORY ? 0 : _searchpaths[sp].size() - 1) ) {