diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/cjs/loader.js b/lib/internal/modules/cjs/loader.js
index 034938e56a2d6a..eab006935b0cad 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/cjs/loader.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/cjs/loader.js
@@ -1001,7 +1001,7 @@ Module.runMain = function() {
   // Load the main module--the command line argument.
   if (experimentalModules) {
     asyncESM.loaderPromise.then((loader) => {
-      return loader.import(pathToFileURL(process.argv[1]).pathname);
+      return loader.import(pathToFileURL(process.argv[1]).href);
     })
     .catch((e) => {
       internalBinding('errors').triggerUncaughtException(
diff --git a/test/fixtures/es-module-loaders/example-loader.mjs b/test/fixtures/es-module-loaders/example-loader.mjs
index d8e0ddcba30699..ed5b0d9be5940d 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/es-module-loaders/example-loader.mjs
+++ b/test/fixtures/es-module-loaders/example-loader.mjs
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ export function resolve(specifier, parentModuleURL = baseURL /*, defaultResolve
       format: 'builtin'
     };
   }
-  if (/^\.{0,2}[/]/.test(specifier) !== true && !specifier.startsWith('file:')) {
+  if (/^\.{1,2}[/]/.test(specifier) !== true && !specifier.startsWith('file:')) {
     // For node_modules support:
     // return defaultResolve(specifier, parentModuleURL);
     throw new Error(
-      `imports must begin with '/', './', or '../'; '${specifier}' does not`);
+      `imports must be URLs or begin with './', or '../'; '${specifier}' does not`);
   }
   const resolved = new url.URL(specifier, parentModuleURL);
   const ext = path.extname(resolved.pathname);