diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index f64a390b4fc..fea9b8e8973 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -338,6 +338,8 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
 
     HDFS-4603. TestMiniDFSCluster fails on Windows. (Ivan Mitic via suresh)
 
+    HDFS-4604. TestJournalNode fails on Windows. (Ivan Mitic via suresh)
+
 Release 2.0.5-beta - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNode.java
index 91629d930c9..fe08f209f4a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/JournalNode.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.metrics2.lib.DefaultMetricsSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.metrics2.source.JvmMetrics;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.SecurityUtil;
+import org.apache.hadoop.util.DiskChecker;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.Tool;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.ToolRunner;
@@ -82,7 +83,6 @@ public class JournalNode implements Tool, Configurable {
     return journal;
   }
 
-
   @Override
   public void setConf(Configuration conf) {
     this.conf = conf;
@@ -97,21 +97,9 @@ public class JournalNode implements Tool, Configurable {
           "Journal dir '" + dir + "' should be an absolute path");
     }
 
-    if (!dir.exists() && !dir.mkdirs()) {
-      throw new IOException("Could not create journal dir '" +
-          dir + "'");
-    } else if (!dir.isDirectory()) {
-      throw new IOException("Journal directory '" + dir + "' is not " +
-          "a directory");
-    }
-    
-    if (!dir.canWrite()) {
-      throw new IOException("Unable to write to journal dir '" +
-          dir + "'");
-    }
+    DiskChecker.checkDir(dir);
   }
 
-
   @Override
   public Configuration getConf() {
     return conf;
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/TestJournalNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/TestJournalNode.java
index f57f7e66b40..e6e140443bf 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/TestJournalNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/qjournal/server/TestJournalNode.java
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.metrics2.MetricsRecordBuilder;
 import org.apache.hadoop.metrics2.lib.DefaultMetricsSystem;
 import org.apache.hadoop.test.GenericTestUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.test.MetricsAsserts;
+import org.apache.hadoop.util.Shell;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -65,6 +66,8 @@ public class TestJournalNode {
   private Configuration conf = new Configuration();
   private IPCLoggerChannel ch;
   private String journalId;
+  private File TEST_BUILD_DATA =
+      new File(System.getProperty("test.build.data", "build/test/data"));
 
   static {
     // Avoid an error when we double-initialize JvmMetrics
@@ -96,7 +99,7 @@ public class TestJournalNode {
     jn.stop(0);
   }
   
-  @Test
+  @Test(timeout=100000)
   public void testJournal() throws Exception {
     MetricsRecordBuilder metrics = MetricsAsserts.getMetrics(
         journal.getMetricsForTests().getName());
@@ -129,7 +132,7 @@ public class TestJournalNode {
   }
   
   
-  @Test
+  @Test(timeout=100000)
   public void testReturnsSegmentInfoAtEpochTransition() throws Exception {
     ch.newEpoch(1).get();
     ch.setEpoch(1);
@@ -157,7 +160,7 @@ public class TestJournalNode {
     assertEquals(1, response.getLastSegmentTxId());
   }
   
-  @Test
+  @Test(timeout=100000)
   public void testHttpServer() throws Exception {
     InetSocketAddress addr = jn.getBoundHttpAddress();
     assertTrue(addr.getPort() > 0);
@@ -210,7 +213,7 @@ public class TestJournalNode {
    * Test that the JournalNode performs correctly as a Paxos
    * <em>Acceptor</em> process.
    */
-  @Test
+  @Test(timeout=100000)
   public void testAcceptRecoveryBehavior() throws Exception {
     // We need to run newEpoch() first, or else we have no way to distinguish
     // different proposals for the same decision.
@@ -270,20 +273,27 @@ public class TestJournalNode {
     }
   }
   
-  @Test
+  @Test(timeout=100000)
   public void testFailToStartWithBadConfig() throws Exception {
     Configuration conf = new Configuration();
     conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_EDITS_DIR_KEY, "non-absolute-path");
     assertJNFailsToStart(conf, "should be an absolute path");
     
     // Existing file which is not a directory 
-    conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_EDITS_DIR_KEY, "/dev/null");
-    assertJNFailsToStart(conf, "is not a directory");
+    File existingFile = new File(TEST_BUILD_DATA, "testjournalnodefile");
+    assertTrue(existingFile.createNewFile());
+    try {
+      conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_EDITS_DIR_KEY,
+          existingFile.getAbsolutePath());
+      assertJNFailsToStart(conf, "Not a directory");
+    } finally {
+      existingFile.delete();
+    }
     
     // Directory which cannot be created
-    conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_EDITS_DIR_KEY, "/proc/does-not-exist");
-    assertJNFailsToStart(conf, "Could not create");
-
+    conf.set(DFSConfigKeys.DFS_JOURNALNODE_EDITS_DIR_KEY,
+        Shell.WINDOWS ? "\\\\cannotBeCreated" : "/proc/does-not-exist");
+    assertJNFailsToStart(conf, "Can not create directory");
   }
 
   private static void assertJNFailsToStart(Configuration conf,