diff --git a/src/core/statjob.h b/src/core/statjob.h
--- a/src/core/statjob.h
+++ b/src/core/statjob.h
@@ -108,18 +108,20 @@
 
     /**
      * @brief most local URL
-     * Call this in the slot connected to result,
-     * and only after making sure no error happened.
-     * @return the most local URL for the URL we were stat'ing.
+     *
+     * Call this in a slot connected to the result signal, and only after making sure no error
+     * happened.
+     *
+     * @return the most local URL for the URL we were stat'ing
      *
      * Sample usage:
      *
      * @code
-     * KIO::StatJob* job = KIO::mostLocalUrl("desktop:/foo");
+     * KIO::StatJob *job = KIO::mostLocalUrl("desktop:/foo");
      * job->uiDelegate()->setWindow(this);
      * connect(job, &KJob::result, this, &MyClass::slotMostLocalUrlResult);
      * [...]
-     * // and in the slot slotMostLocalUrlResult(KJob *job)
+     * // and in slotMostLocalUrlResult(KJob *job)
      * if (job->error()) {
      *    [...] // doesn't exist
      * } else {
diff --git a/src/core/statjob.cpp b/src/core/statjob.cpp
--- a/src/core/statjob.cpp
+++ b/src/core/statjob.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "job_p.h"
 #include "slave.h"
 #include "scheduler.h"
+#include <KProtocolInfo>
 #include <kurlauthorized.h>
 #include <QTimer>
 
@@ -126,14 +127,18 @@
 
 QUrl StatJob::mostLocalUrl() const
 {
-    if (!url().isLocalFile()) {
+    const QUrl _url = url();
+
+    if (_url.isLocalFile()) {
+        return _url;
+    }
+
+    QString path;
+    if (KProtocolInfo::protocolClass(_url.scheme()) == QLatin1String(":local")) {
         const UDSEntry &udsEntry = d_func()->m_statResult;
-        const QString path = udsEntry.stringValue(KIO::UDSEntry::UDS_LOCAL_PATH);
-        if (!path.isEmpty()) {
-            return QUrl::fromLocalFile(path);
-        }
+        path = udsEntry.stringValue(KIO::UDSEntry::UDS_LOCAL_PATH);
     }
-    return url();
+    return !path.isEmpty() ? QUrl::fromLocalFile(path) : _url;
 }
 
 void StatJobPrivate::start(Slave *slave)
@@ -212,7 +217,7 @@
 StatJob *KIO::mostLocalUrl(const QUrl &url, JobFlags flags)
 {
     StatJob *job = statDetails(url, StatJob::SourceSide, KIO::StatDefaultDetails, flags);
-    if (url.isLocalFile()) {
+    if (url.isLocalFile() || KProtocolInfo::protocolClass(url.scheme()) != QLatin1String(":local")) {
         QTimer::singleShot(0, job, &StatJob::slotFinished);
         Scheduler::cancelJob(job); // deletes the slave if not 0
     }