diff --git a/pandas/io/tests/test_pytables.py b/pandas/io/tests/test_pytables.py
index edaae26acb29e..dd30527b1f82d 100644
--- a/pandas/io/tests/test_pytables.py
+++ b/pandas/io/tests/test_pytables.py
@@ -2067,6 +2067,10 @@ def test_append_with_timezones_dateutil(self):
         except ImportError:
             raise nose.SkipTest
 
+        # use maybe_get_tz instead of dateutil.tz.gettz to handle the windows filename issues.
+        from pandas.tslib import maybe_get_tz
+        gettz = lambda x: maybe_get_tz('dateutil/' + x)
+
         def compare(a, b):
             tm.assert_frame_equal(a, b)
 
@@ -2082,7 +2086,7 @@ def compare(a, b):
         with ensure_clean_store(self.path) as store:
 
             _maybe_remove(store, 'df_tz')
-            df = DataFrame(dict(A=[ Timestamp('20130102 2:00:00', tz=dateutil.tz.gettz('US/Eastern')) + timedelta(hours=1) * i for i in range(5) ]))
+            df = DataFrame(dict(A=[ Timestamp('20130102 2:00:00', tz=gettz('US/Eastern')) + timedelta(hours=1) * i for i in range(5) ]))
             store.append('df_tz', df, data_columns=['A'])
             result = store['df_tz']
             compare(result, df)
@@ -2093,14 +2097,14 @@ def compare(a, b):
 
             _maybe_remove(store, 'df_tz')
             # ensure we include dates in DST and STD time here.
-            df = DataFrame(dict(A=Timestamp('20130102', tz=dateutil.tz.gettz('US/Eastern')), B=Timestamp('20130603', tz=dateutil.tz.gettz('US/Eastern'))), index=range(5))
+            df = DataFrame(dict(A=Timestamp('20130102', tz=gettz('US/Eastern')), B=Timestamp('20130603', tz=gettz('US/Eastern'))), index=range(5))
             store.append('df_tz', df)
             result = store['df_tz']
             compare(result, df)
             assert_frame_equal(result, df)
 
             _maybe_remove(store, 'df_tz')
-            df = DataFrame(dict(A=Timestamp('20130102', tz=dateutil.tz.gettz('US/Eastern')), B=Timestamp('20130102', tz=dateutil.tz.gettz('EET'))), index=range(5))
+            df = DataFrame(dict(A=Timestamp('20130102', tz=gettz('US/Eastern')), B=Timestamp('20130102', tz=gettz('EET'))), index=range(5))
             self.assertRaises(TypeError, store.append, 'df_tz', df)
 
             # this is ok
@@ -2111,14 +2115,14 @@ def compare(a, b):
             assert_frame_equal(result, df)
 
             # can't append with diff timezone
-            df = DataFrame(dict(A=Timestamp('20130102', tz=dateutil.tz.gettz('US/Eastern')), B=Timestamp('20130102', tz=dateutil.tz.gettz('CET'))), index=range(5))
+            df = DataFrame(dict(A=Timestamp('20130102', tz=gettz('US/Eastern')), B=Timestamp('20130102', tz=gettz('CET'))), index=range(5))
             self.assertRaises(ValueError, store.append, 'df_tz', df)
 
         # as index
         with ensure_clean_store(self.path) as store:
 
             # GH 4098 example
-            df = DataFrame(dict(A=Series(lrange(3), index=date_range('2000-1-1', periods=3, freq='H', tz=dateutil.tz.gettz('US/Eastern')))))
+            df = DataFrame(dict(A=Series(lrange(3), index=date_range('2000-1-1', periods=3, freq='H', tz=gettz('US/Eastern')))))
 
             _maybe_remove(store, 'df')
             store.put('df', df)
diff --git a/pandas/tseries/tests/test_timezones.py b/pandas/tseries/tests/test_timezones.py
index 51c533df863e6..e6da490e1f722 100644
--- a/pandas/tseries/tests/test_timezones.py
+++ b/pandas/tseries/tests/test_timezones.py
@@ -789,6 +789,9 @@ def localize(self, tz, x):
         return x.replace(tzinfo=tz)
 
     def test_utc_with_system_utc(self):
+        if sys.platform == 'win32':
+            raise nose.SkipTest('Skipped on win32 due to dateutil bug.')
+
         from pandas.tslib import maybe_get_tz
 
         # from system utc to real utc