diff --git a/src/gui/itemmodels/qfilesystemmodel.cpp b/src/gui/itemmodels/qfilesystemmodel.cpp
index 70c274b816c..e0274e5fefe 100644
--- a/src/gui/itemmodels/qfilesystemmodel.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/itemmodels/qfilesystemmodel.cpp
@@ -391,8 +391,11 @@ QFileSystemModelPrivate::QFileSystemNode *QFileSystemModelPrivate::node(const QS
         if (absolutePath.endsWith(QLatin1Char('/')))
             trailingSeparator = QLatin1String("\\");
         int r = 0;
-        QFileSystemModelPrivate::QFileSystemNode *rootNode = const_cast<QFileSystemModelPrivate::QFileSystemNode*>(&root);
-        if (!root.children.contains(host.toLower())) {
+        auto rootNode = const_cast<QFileSystemModelPrivate::QFileSystemNode*>(&root);
+        auto it = root.children.constFind(host);
+        if (it != root.children.cend()) {
+            host = it.key(); // Normalize case for lookup in visibleLocation()
+        } else {
             if (pathElements.count() == 1 && !absolutePath.endsWith(QLatin1Char('/')))
                 return rootNode;
             QFileInfo info(host);
diff --git a/tests/auto/gui/itemmodels/qfilesystemmodel/tst_qfilesystemmodel.cpp b/tests/auto/gui/itemmodels/qfilesystemmodel/tst_qfilesystemmodel.cpp
index b9c44aa4c28..b6f6328acd6 100644
--- a/tests/auto/gui/itemmodels/qfilesystemmodel/tst_qfilesystemmodel.cpp
+++ b/tests/auto/gui/itemmodels/qfilesystemmodel/tst_qfilesystemmodel.cpp
@@ -230,6 +230,21 @@ void tst_QFileSystemModel::rootPath()
         QCOMPARE(rootChanged.count(), oldCount + 1);
         QCOMPARE(model->rootDirectory().absolutePath(), newdir.path());
     }
+
+#ifdef Q_OS_WIN
+    // check case insensitive root node on windows, tests QTBUG-71701
+    QModelIndex index = model->setRootPath(uR"(\\localhost\c$)"_qs);
+    QVERIFY(index.isValid());
+    QCOMPARE(model->rootPath(), u"//localhost/c$"_qs);
+
+    index = model->setRootPath(uR"(\\localhost\C$)"_qs);
+    QVERIFY(index.isValid());
+    QCOMPARE(model->rootPath(), u"//localhost/C$"_qs);
+
+    index = model->setRootPath(uR"(\\LOCALHOST\C$)"_qs);
+    QVERIFY(index.isValid());
+    QCOMPARE(model->rootPath(), u"//LOCALHOST/C$"_qs);
+#endif
 }
 
 void tst_QFileSystemModel::readOnly()