diff --git a/cmdline/scan.c b/cmdline/scan.c
index 4de55a5d..e27f8026 100644
--- a/cmdline/scan.c
+++ b/cmdline/scan.c
@@ -1577,10 +1577,13 @@ static int scan_sub(struct snapraid_scan* scan, int level, int is_diff, char* pa
 
 #if HAVE_LSTAT_SYNC
 				/*
-				 * If the st_ino field is missing, takes care to fill it using the extended lstat()
-				 * this can happen only in Windows
+				 * In Windows fast directory enumeration, st_ino and st_nlink may be
+				 * missing (0). If a field is needed, lstat_sync() must be called to
+				 * retrieve it. Here only st_ino is required for file identity and
+				 * hardlink tracking, while st_nlink is not; we call lstat_sync() only
+				 * when st_ino is missing to avoid expensive file opens.
 				 */
-				if (st->st_ino == INODE_INVALID || st->st_nlink == 0) {
+				if (st->st_ino == INODE_INVALID) {
 					if (lstat_sync(path_next, st, 0) != 0) {
 						/* LCOV_EXCL_START */
 						log_tag("%s:%u:%s:%s: Stat error. %s.\n", es(errno), 0, disk->name, esc_tag(path_next), strerror(errno));
diff --git a/os/mingw.c b/os/mingw.c
index 30ad2f34..c28a19fa 100644
--- a/os/mingw.c
+++ b/os/mingw.c
@@ -547,7 +547,12 @@ static int windows_stream2stat(const BY_HANDLE_FILE_INFORMATION* info, const FIL
 
 	st->st_ino = stream->FileId.QuadPart;
 
-	st->st_nlink = info->nNumberOfLinks;
+	/*
+	 * FILE_ID_BOTH_DIR_INFO doesn't provide the hardlink count of the entry.
+	 * The BY_HANDLE_FILE_INFORMATION refers to the directory itself, so its
+	 * nNumberOfLinks cannot be used for the child.
+	 */
+	st->st_nlink = 0;
 
 	st->st_dev = info->dwVolumeSerialNumber;
 
diff --git a/os/mingw.h b/os/mingw.h
index f90861d1..2e128ead 100644
--- a/os/mingw.h
+++ b/os/mingw.h
@@ -409,11 +409,13 @@ int windows_closedir(windows_dir* dirstream);
  * Specifically this happens if we are using GetFileInformationByHandleEx()
  * to read the directory stream.
  *
- * The st_ino field may be 0 if it's not possible to read it in a fast way.
- * Specifically this happens if we are using FindFirst/FindNext to enumerate
- * the directory.
+ * The st_ino and st_nlink fields may be 0 if the fast directory enumeration
+ * API does not provide them. Specifically, st_ino is 0 with FindFirst/FindNext,
+ * while st_nlink is 0 with both directory streams and FindFirst/FindNext.
  *
- * In such cases, call lstat_sync() to fill the missing fields.
+ * If a missing field is actually needed by the caller, call lstat_sync()
+ * to retrieve it from the file handle. Otherwise, avoid calling lstat_sync()
+ * to preserve fast directory scanning performance.
  */
 void windows_dirent_lstat(const struct windows_dirent* dd, struct windows_stat* st);