diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/windows/win_file.ps1 b/lib/ansible/modules/windows/win_file.ps1
index 68df390c92c..f151497f7bd 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/windows/win_file.ps1
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/windows/win_file.ps1
@@ -30,6 +30,52 @@ $result = @{
     changed = $false
 }
 
+# Used to delete symlinks as powershell cannot delete broken symlinks
+$symlink_util = @"
+using System;
+using System.ComponentModel;
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+
+namespace Ansible.Command {
+    public class SymLinkHelper {
+        [DllImport("kernel32.dll", CharSet=CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError=true)]
+        public static extern bool RemoveDirectory(string lpPathName);
+
+        public static void DeleteSymLink(string linkPathName) {
+            bool result = RemoveDirectory(linkPathName);
+            if (result == false)
+                throw new Exception(String.Format("Error deleting symlink: {0}", new Win32Exception(Marshal.GetLastWin32Error()).Message));
+        }
+    }
+}
+"@
+Add-Type -TypeDefinition $symlink_util
+
+# Used to delete directories and files with logic on handling symbolic links
+function Remove-File($file) {
+    try {
+        if ($file.Attributes -band [System.IO.FileAttributes]::ReparsePoint) {
+            # Bug with powershell, if you try and delete a symbolic link that is pointing
+            # to an invalid path it will fail, using Win32 API to do this instead
+            [Ansible.Command.SymLinkHelper]::DeleteSymLink($file.FullName)
+        } elseif ($file.PSIsContainer) {
+            Remove-Directory -directory $file
+        } else {
+            Remove-Item -Path $file.FullName -Force
+        }
+    } catch [Exception] {
+        Fail-Json (New-Object psobject) "Failed to delete $($file.FullName): $($_.Exception.Message)"
+    }
+}
+
+function Remove-Directory($directory) {
+    foreach ($file in Get-ChildItem $directory.FullName) {
+        Remove-File -file $file
+    }
+    Remove-Item -Path $directory.FullName -Force -Recurse
+}
+
+
 if ($state -eq "touch") {
     if (-not $check_mode) {
         if (Test-Path $path) {
@@ -45,7 +91,7 @@ if (Test-Path $path) {
     $fileinfo = Get-Item $path
     if ($state -eq "absent") {
         if (-not $check_mode) {
-            Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $fileinfo
+            Remove-File -file $fileinfo
         }
         $result.changed = $true
     } else {
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/win_file/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/targets/win_file/tasks/main.yml
index d46bcbeb700..4332d053fb1 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/win_file/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/win_file/tasks/main.yml
@@ -496,6 +496,24 @@
        - file_result.changed
        - "stat_result.stat.exists == False"
 
+- name: create folder to point set symbolic link for
+  win_file:
+    path: "{{win_output_dir}}/link-test/link-target"
+    state: directory
+
+- name: create symbolic link
+  win_command: cmd.exe /c mklink /d "{{win_output_dir}}\link-test\link" "{{win_output_dir}}\link-test\link-target"
+
+- name: remove symbolic link target
+  win_file:
+    path: "{{win_output_dir}}/link-test/link-target"
+    state: absent
+
+- name: remove parent folder with broken link
+  win_file:
+    path: "{{win_output_dir}}/link-test"
+    state: absent
+
 - name: clean up sub1
   win_file: path={{win_output_dir}}/sub1 state=absent