diff --git a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
index 3cee8ab46e..cc86b8a014 100644
--- a/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
+++ b/builtin/sparse-checkout.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 #include "resolve-undo.h"
 #include "unpack-trees.h"
 #include "wt-status.h"
+#include "quote.h"
 
 static const char *empty_base = "";
 
@@ -140,6 +141,22 @@ static int update_working_directory(struct pattern_list *pl)
 	return result;
 }
 
+static char *escaped_pattern(char *pattern)
+{
+	char *p = pattern;
+	struct strbuf final = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+	while (*p) {
+		if (*p == '*' || *p == '\\')
+			strbuf_addch(&final, '\\');
+
+		strbuf_addch(&final, *p);
+		p++;
+	}
+
+	return strbuf_detach(&final, NULL);
+}
+
 static void write_cone_to_file(FILE *fp, struct pattern_list *pl)
 {
 	int i;
@@ -164,10 +181,11 @@ static void write_cone_to_file(FILE *fp, struct pattern_list *pl)
 	fprintf(fp, "/*\n!/*/\n");
 
 	for (i = 0; i < sl.nr; i++) {
-		char *pattern = sl.items[i].string;
+		char *pattern = escaped_pattern(sl.items[i].string);
 
 		if (strlen(pattern))
 			fprintf(fp, "%s/\n!%s/*/\n", pattern, pattern);
+		free(pattern);
 	}
 
 	string_list_clear(&sl, 0);
@@ -185,8 +203,9 @@ static void write_cone_to_file(FILE *fp, struct pattern_list *pl)
 	string_list_remove_duplicates(&sl, 0);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < sl.nr; i++) {
-		char *pattern = sl.items[i].string;
+		char *pattern = escaped_pattern(sl.items[i].string);
 		fprintf(fp, "%s/\n", pattern);
+		free(pattern);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
index 9ea700896d..fb8718e64a 100755
--- a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
+++ b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
@@ -309,6 +309,9 @@ check_read_tree_errors () {
 	REPO=$1
 	FILES=$2
 	ERRORS=$3
+	git -C $REPO -c core.sparseCheckoutCone=false read-tree -mu HEAD 2>err &&
+	test_must_be_empty err &&
+	check_files $REPO "$FILES" &&
 	git -C $REPO read-tree -mu HEAD 2>err &&
 	if test -z "$ERRORS"
 	then
@@ -391,14 +394,17 @@ test_expect_success BSLASHPSPEC 'pattern-checks: escaped "*"' '
 	git -C escaped reset --hard $COMMIT &&
 	check_files escaped "a deep folder1 folder2 zbad\\dir zdoes*exist" &&
 	git -C escaped sparse-checkout init --cone &&
-	cat >escaped/.git/info/sparse-checkout <<-\EOF &&
+	git -C escaped sparse-checkout set zbad\\dir/bogus "zdoes*not*exist" "zdoes*exist" &&
+	cat >expect <<-\EOF &&
 	/*
 	!/*/
 	/zbad\\dir/
 	!/zbad\\dir/*/
-	/zdoes\*not\*exist/
+	/zbad\\dir/bogus/
 	/zdoes\*exist/
+	/zdoes\*not\*exist/
 	EOF
+	test_cmp expect escaped/.git/info/sparse-checkout &&
 	check_read_tree_errors escaped "a zbad\\dir zdoes*exist"
 '