diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/FileRepository.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/FileRepository.java
index 4c420f693..447e357d5 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/FileRepository.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/FileRepository.java
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.internal.storage.file.ObjectDirectory.AlternateRepositor
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.BaseRepositoryBuilder;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ConfigConstants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Constants;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.HideDotFiles;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.SymLinks;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Ref;
@@ -268,6 +269,12 @@ public class FileRepository extends Repository {
 					JGitText.get().repositoryAlreadyExists, getDirectory()));
 		}
 		FileUtils.mkdirs(getDirectory(), true);
+		HideDotFiles hideDotFiles = getConfig().getEnum(
+				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION, null,
+				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_HIDEDOTFILES,
+				HideDotFiles.DOTGITONLY);
+		if (hideDotFiles != HideDotFiles.FALSE)
+			getFS().setHidden(getDirectory(), true);
 		refs.create();
 		objectDatabase.create();
 
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigConstants.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigConstants.java
index b52ecd815..378d91c58 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigConstants.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigConstants.java
@@ -214,6 +214,12 @@ public class ConfigConstants {
 	/** The "indexversion" key */
 	public static final String CONFIG_KEY_INDEXVERSION = "indexversion";
 
+	/**
+	 * The "hidedotfiles" key
+	 * @since 3.5
+	 */
+	public static final String CONFIG_KEY_HIDEDOTFILES = "hidedotfiles";
+
 	/** The "precomposeunicode" key */
 	public static final String CONFIG_KEY_PRECOMPOSEUNICODE = "precomposeunicode";
 
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/CoreConfig.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/CoreConfig.java
index 962f2e7c2..8f31d96de 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/CoreConfig.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/CoreConfig.java
@@ -113,6 +113,20 @@ public class CoreConfig {
 		TRUE
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Options for hiding files whose names start with a period
+	 *
+	 * @since 3.5
+	 */
+	public static enum HideDotFiles {
+		/** Do not hide .files */
+		FALSE,
+		/** Hide add .files */
+		TRUE,
+		/** Hide only .git */
+		DOTGITONLY
+	}
+
 	private CoreConfig(final Config rc) {
 		compression = rc.getInt(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION,
 				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_COMPRESSION, DEFAULT_COMPRESSION);
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeOptions.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeOptions.java
index e5e22413d..a6dccce03 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeOptions.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeOptions.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ConfigConstants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config.SectionParser;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.AutoCRLF;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.CheckStat;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.HideDotFiles;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.SymLinks;
 
 /** Options used by the {@link WorkingTreeIterator}. */
@@ -67,6 +68,8 @@ public class WorkingTreeOptions {
 
 	private final SymLinks symlinks;
 
+	private final HideDotFiles hideDotFiles;
+
 	private WorkingTreeOptions(final Config rc) {
 		fileMode = rc.getBoolean(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION,
 				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_FILEMODE, true);
@@ -76,6 +79,9 @@ public class WorkingTreeOptions {
 				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_CHECKSTAT, CheckStat.DEFAULT);
 		symlinks = rc.getEnum(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION, null,
 				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_SYMLINKS, SymLinks.TRUE);
+		hideDotFiles = rc.getEnum(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION, null,
+				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_HIDEDOTFILES,
+				HideDotFiles.DOTGITONLY);
 	}
 
 	/** @return true if the execute bit on working files should be trusted. */
@@ -103,4 +109,12 @@ public class WorkingTreeOptions {
 	public SymLinks getSymLinks() {
 		return symlinks;
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @return how we create '.'-files (on Windows)
+	 * @since 3.5
+	 */
+	public HideDotFiles getHideDotFiles() {
+		return hideDotFiles;
+	}
 }