diff --git a/ext/standard/basic_functions.c b/ext/standard/basic_functions.c
index 78ce124d662..33ca9b7e1c1 100644
--- a/ext/standard/basic_functions.c
+++ b/ext/standard/basic_functions.c
@@ -5582,6 +5582,15 @@ PHP_FUNCTION(getservbyname)
 		return;
 	}
 
+
+/* empty string behaves like NULL on windows implementation of 
+   getservbyname. Let be portable instead. */
+#ifdef PHP_WIN32
+	if (proto_len == 0) {
+		RETURN_FALSE;
+	}
+#endif
+
 	serv = getservbyname(name, proto);
 
 	if (serv == NULL) {