diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/__tests__/transformIndexHtml.spec.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/__tests__/transformIndexHtml.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..1b0069d23b8c80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/__tests__/transformIndexHtml.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { normalizePath } from '../../utils'
+import { type ViteDevServer, createServer } from '../index'
+
+describe('transformIndexHtml', () => {
+  const root = join(__dirname, 'fixtures/transformIndexHtml')
+  let server: ViteDevServer | undefined
+
+  let resolveResult: { path: string; filename: string } | undefined
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    server = await createServer({
+      root,
+      plugins: [
+        {
+          name: 'transformIndexHtml-record-result',
+          transformIndexHtml: {
+            order: 'pre',
+            handler: (html, ctx) => {
+              expect(html).toBe('')
+              expect(resolveResult).toBe(undefined)
+              resolveResult = { path: ctx.path, filename: ctx.filename }
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      ],
+    })
+  })
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    if (server) {
+      await server.close()
+      server = undefined
+    }
+  })
+
+  async function test(url: string, expPath: string, expFilename: string) {
+    resolveResult = undefined
+    await server!.transformIndexHtml(url, '')
+    expect(resolveResult).toEqual({
+      path: expPath,
+      filename: normalizePath(expFilename),
+    })
+  }
+
+  const p = join(root, 'a', 'b')
+
+  it('handles root url', async () => {
+    await test('/', '/index.html', join(root, 'index.html'))
+  })
+
+  it('handles filename in a subdirectory', async () => {
+    await test('/a/b/index.html', '/a/b/index.html', join(p, 'index.html'))
+  })
+  it('handles no filename in a subdirectory', async () => {
+    await test('/a/b/', '/a/b/index.html', join(p, 'index.html'))
+  })
+  it('handles filename without an extension', async () => {
+    await test('/a/b/index', '/a/b/index.html', join(p, 'index.html'))
+  })
+
+  it('handles filename other than index.html without extension', async () => {
+    await test('/a/b/other', '/a/b/other.html', join(p, 'other.html'))
+  })
+  it('handles unicode in the path', async () => {
+    await test(
+      '/%F0%9F%90%B1/',
+      '/%F0%9F%90%B1/index.html',
+      join(root, '🐱', 'index.html'),
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('handles search parameters', async () => {
+    await test('/a/b/?c=d', '/a/b/index.html', join(p, 'index.html'))
+  })
+
+  it('handles hash', async () => {
+    await test('/a/b/#c', '/a/b/index.html', join(p, 'index.html'))
+  })
+})
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/htmlFallback.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/htmlFallback.ts
index 4dbfea3538c540..a070c1130a0c11 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/htmlFallback.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/htmlFallback.ts
@@ -28,41 +28,14 @@ export function htmlFallbackMiddleware(
       return next()
     }
 
-    const url = cleanUrl(req.url!)
-    const pathname = decodeURIComponent(url)
+    const { url, pathname } = normalizeIndexHtmlUrl(req.url!)
 
     // .html files are not handled by serveStaticMiddleware
     // so we need to check if the file exists
-    if (pathname.endsWith('.html')) {
-      const filePath = path.join(root, pathname)
-      if (fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
-        debug?.(`Rewriting ${req.method} ${req.url} to ${url}`)
-        req.url = url
-        return next()
-      }
-    }
-    // trailing slash should check for fallback index.html
-    else if (pathname[pathname.length - 1] === '/') {
-      const filePath = path.join(root, pathname, 'index.html')
-      if (fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
-        const newUrl = url + 'index.html'
-        debug?.(`Rewriting ${req.method} ${req.url} to ${newUrl}`)
-        req.url = newUrl
-        return next()
-      }
-    }
-    // non-trailing slash should check for fallback .html
-    else {
-      const filePath = path.join(root, pathname + '.html')
-      if (fs.existsSync(filePath)) {
-        const newUrl = url + '.html'
-        debug?.(`Rewriting ${req.method} ${req.url} to ${newUrl}`)
-        req.url = newUrl
-        return next()
-      }
-    }
-
-    if (spaFallback) {
+    if (fs.existsSync(path.join(root, pathname))) {
+      debug?.(`Rewriting ${req.method} ${req.url} to ${url}`)
+      req.url = url
+    } else if (spaFallback) {
       debug?.(`Rewriting ${req.method} ${req.url} to /index.html`)
       req.url = '/index.html'
     }
@@ -70,3 +43,27 @@ export function htmlFallbackMiddleware(
     next()
   }
 }
+
+export function normalizeIndexHtmlUrl(url: string): {
+  url: string
+  pathname: string
+} {
+  url = cleanUrl(url)
+  let pathname = decodeURIComponent(url)
+
+  if (pathname.endsWith('.html')) {
+    return { url, pathname }
+  }
+  // trailing slash should check for fallback index.html
+  else if (pathname[pathname.length - 1] === '/') {
+    pathname += 'index.html'
+    url += 'index.html'
+    return { url, pathname }
+  }
+  // non-trailing slash should check for fallback .html
+  else {
+    pathname += '.html'
+    url += '.html'
+    return { url, pathname }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/indexHtml.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/indexHtml.ts
index 228dce2ae7befa..e0c37e1611e23f 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/indexHtml.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/indexHtml.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ import { isCSSRequest } from '../../plugins/css'
 import { getCodeWithSourcemap, injectSourcesContent } from '../sourcemap'
 import { cleanUrl, unwrapId, wrapId } from '../../../shared/utils'
 import { getNodeAssetAttributes } from '../../assetSource'
+import { normalizeIndexHtmlUrl } from './htmlFallback'
 
 interface AssetNode {
   start: number
@@ -86,25 +87,24 @@ export function createDevHtmlTransformFn(
     html: string,
     originalUrl?: string,
   ): Promise<string> => {
+    const normalized = normalizeIndexHtmlUrl(url)
+    let filename: string
+    if (normalized.pathname.startsWith(FS_PREFIX)) {
+      filename = fsPathFromId(normalized.pathname)
+    } else {
+      filename = normalizePath(
+        path.join(server.config.root, normalized.pathname),
+      )
+    }
     return applyHtmlTransforms(html, transformHooks, {
-      path: url,
-      filename: getHtmlFilename(url, server),
+      path: normalized.url,
+      filename,
       server,
       originalUrl,
     })
   }
 }
 
-function getHtmlFilename(url: string, server: ViteDevServer) {
-  if (url.startsWith(FS_PREFIX)) {
-    return decodeURIComponent(fsPathFromId(url))
-  } else {
-    return decodeURIComponent(
-      normalizePath(path.join(server.config.root, url.slice(1))),
-    )
-  }
-}
-
 function shouldPreTransform(url: string, config: ResolvedConfig) {
   return (
     !checkPublicFile(url, config) && (isJSRequest(url) || isCSSRequest(url))