diff --git a/wp-admin/includes/schema.php b/wp-admin/includes/schema.php
index 381187c919..a4815b740e 100644
--- a/wp-admin/includes/schema.php
+++ b/wp-admin/includes/schema.php
@@ -238,6 +238,7 @@ function populate_options() {
 	// 2.5
 	add_option('show_avatars', '1');
 	add_option('avatar_rating', 'G');
+	add_option('upload_url_path', '');
 
 	// Delete unused options
 	$unusedoptions = array ('blodotgsping_url', 'bodyterminator', 'emailtestonly', 'phoneemail_separator', 'smilies_directory', 'subjectprefix', 'use_bbcode', 'use_blodotgsping', 'use_phoneemail', 'use_quicktags', 'use_weblogsping', 'weblogs_cache_file', 'use_preview', 'use_htmltrans', 'smilies_directory', 'fileupload_allowedusers', 'use_phoneemail', 'default_post_status', 'default_post_category', 'archive_mode', 'time_difference', 'links_minadminlevel', 'links_use_adminlevels', 'links_rating_type', 'links_rating_char', 'links_rating_ignore_zero', 'links_rating_single_image', 'links_rating_image0', 'links_rating_image1', 'links_rating_image2', 'links_rating_image3', 'links_rating_image4', 'links_rating_image5', 'links_rating_image6', 'links_rating_image7', 'links_rating_image8', 'links_rating_image9', 'weblogs_cacheminutes', 'comment_allowed_tags', 'search_engine_friendly_urls', 'default_geourl_lat', 'default_geourl_lon', 'use_default_geourl', 'weblogs_xml_url', 'new_users_can_blog', '_wpnonce', '_wp_http_referer', 'Update', 'action', 'rich_editing');
diff --git a/wp-admin/options-misc.php b/wp-admin/options-misc.php
index 9a6b045e9c..e3cd613552 100644
--- a/wp-admin/options-misc.php
+++ b/wp-admin/options-misc.php
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ include('admin-header.php');
 <?php _e('Default is <code>wp-content/uploads</code>'); ?>
 </td>
 </tr>
+
+<tr valign="top">
+<th scope="row"><?php _e('Full URL path to files (optional)'); ?>:</th>
+<td><input name="upload_url_path" type="text" id="upload_url_path" class="code" value="<?php echo attribute_escape( get_option('upload_url_path')); ?>" size="40" />
+</td>
+</tr>
+
 <tr>
 <td></td>
 <td>
@@ -43,7 +50,7 @@ include('admin-header.php');
 
 <p class="submit">
 <input type="hidden" name="action" value="update" />
-<input type="hidden" name="page_options" value="hack_file,use_linksupdate,uploads_use_yearmonth_folders,upload_path" />
+<input type="hidden" name="page_options" value="hack_file,use_linksupdate,uploads_use_yearmonth_folders,upload_path,upload_url_path" />
 <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="<?php _e('Update Options &raquo;') ?>" />
 </p>
 </form>
diff --git a/wp-includes/functions.php b/wp-includes/functions.php
index 04a2c2a707..87d7eb138b 100644
--- a/wp-includes/functions.php
+++ b/wp-includes/functions.php
@@ -1026,10 +1026,16 @@ function wp_mkdir_p( $target ) {
 // Returns an array containing the current upload directory's path and url, or an error message.
 function wp_upload_dir( $time = NULL ) {
 	$siteurl = get_option( 'siteurl' );
-	//prepend ABSPATH to $dir and $siteurl to $url if they're not already there
-	$path = str_replace( ABSPATH, '', trim( get_option( 'upload_path' ) ) );
-	$dir = ABSPATH . $path;
-	$url = trailingslashit( $siteurl ) . $path;
+	$upload_path = $dir = get_option( 'upload_path' );
+	
+	if ( $upload_path != realpath( $upload_path ) ) { // not an absolute path
+		//prepend ABSPATH to $dir and $siteurl to $url if they're not already there
+		$path = str_replace( ABSPATH, '', trim( $upload_path ) );
+		$dir = ABSPATH . $path;
+	}
+
+	if ( !$url = get_option( 'upload_url_path' ) )
+		$url = trailingslashit( $siteurl ) . $path;
 
 	if ( $dir == ABSPATH ) // the option was empty
 		$dir = ABSPATH . 'wp-content/uploads';