diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/indexHtml.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/indexHtml.ts
index c9d9228a0d79ef..96d05c418c1ae1 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/indexHtml.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/middlewares/indexHtml.ts
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ function shouldPreTransform(url: string, config: ResolvedConfig) {
   )
 }
 
+const startsWithWordCharRE = /^\w/
+
 const processNodeUrl = (
   attr: Token.Attribute,
   sourceCodeLocation: Token.Location,
@@ -118,7 +120,7 @@ const processNodeUrl = (
       preTransformRequest(server, fullUrl, devBase)
     }
   } else if (
-    url[0] === '.' &&
+    (url[0] === '.' || startsWithWordCharRE.test(url)) &&
     originalUrl &&
     originalUrl !== '/' &&
     htmlPath === '/index.html'
diff --git a/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts b/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
index 43a93a19276440..77a0ca11c6c810 100644
--- a/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
+++ b/playground/assets/__tests__/assets.spec.ts
@@ -19,10 +19,10 @@ import {
 } from '~utils'
 
 const assetMatch = isBuild
-  ? /\/foo\/assets\/asset-\w{8}\.png/
-  : '/foo/nested/asset.png'
+  ? /\/foo\/bar\/assets\/asset-\w{8}\.png/
+  : '/foo/bar/nested/asset.png'
 
-const iconMatch = `/foo/icon.png`
+const iconMatch = `/foo/bar/icon.png`
 
 const fetchPath = (p: string) => {
   return fetch(path.posix.join(viteTestUrl, p), {
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ test('should fallback to index.html when accessing non-existant html file', asyn
 describe('injected scripts', () => {
   test('@vite/client', async () => {
     const hasClient = await page.$(
-      'script[type="module"][src="/foo/@vite/client"]',
+      'script[type="module"][src="/foo/bar/@vite/client"]',
     )
     if (isBuild) {
       expect(hasClient).toBeFalsy()
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ describe('injected scripts', () => {
 
   test('html-proxy', async () => {
     const hasHtmlProxy = await page.$(
-      'script[type="module"][src^="/foo/index.html?html-proxy"]',
+      'script[type="module"][src^="/foo/bar/index.html?html-proxy"]',
     )
     if (isBuild) {
       expect(hasHtmlProxy).toBeFalsy()
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ describe('asset imports from js', () => {
 
   test('from /public (json)', async () => {
     expect(await page.textContent('.public-json-import')).toMatch(
-      '/foo/foo.json',
+      '/foo/bar/foo.json',
     )
     expect(await page.textContent('.public-json-import-content'))
       .toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ describe('css url() references', () => {
   })
 
   test('base64 inline', async () => {
-    const match = isBuild ? `data:image/png;base64` : `/foo/nested/icon.png`
+    const match = isBuild ? `data:image/png;base64` : `/foo/bar/nested/icon.png`
     expect(await getBg('.css-url-base64-inline')).toMatch(match)
     expect(await getBg('.css-url-quotes-base64-inline')).toMatch(match)
     const icoMatch = isBuild ? `data:image/x-icon;base64` : `favicon.ico`
@@ -245,8 +245,8 @@ describe('image', () => {
     srcset.split(', ').forEach((s) => {
       expect(s).toMatch(
         isBuild
-          ? /\/foo\/assets\/asset-\w{8}\.png \dx/
-          : /\/foo\/nested\/asset.png \dx/,
+          ? /\/foo\/bar\/assets\/asset-\w{8}\.png \dx/
+          : /\/foo\/bar\/nested\/asset.png \dx/,
       )
     })
   })
@@ -289,7 +289,7 @@ test('?url import', async () => {
       ? `data:application/javascript;base64,${Buffer.from(src).toString(
           'base64',
         )}`
-      : `/foo/foo.js`,
+      : `/foo/bar/foo.js`,
   )
 })
 
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ test('?url import on css', async () => {
   expect(txt).toEqual(
     isBuild
       ? `data:text/css;base64,${Buffer.from(src).toString('base64')}`
-      : '/foo/css/icons.css',
+      : '/foo/bar/css/icons.css',
   )
 })
 
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ describe('unicode url', () => {
         ? `data:application/javascript;base64,${Buffer.from(src).toString(
             'base64',
           )}`
-        : `/foo/テスト-測試-white space.js`,
+        : `/foo/bar/テスト-測試-white space.js`,
     )
   })
 })
@@ -350,41 +350,46 @@ test('new URL(..., import.meta.url) without extension', async () => {
 
 test('new URL(`${dynamic}`, import.meta.url)', async () => {
   expect(await page.textContent('.dynamic-import-meta-url-1')).toMatch(
-    isBuild ? 'data:image/png;base64' : '/foo/nested/icon.png',
+    isBuild ? 'data:image/png;base64' : '/foo/bar/nested/icon.png',
   )
   expect(await page.textContent('.dynamic-import-meta-url-2')).toMatch(
     assetMatch,
   )
   expect(await page.textContent('.dynamic-import-meta-url-js')).toMatch(
-    isBuild ? 'data:application/javascript;base64' : '/foo/nested/test.js',
+    isBuild ? 'data:application/javascript;base64' : '/foo/bar/nested/test.js',
   )
 })
 
 test('new URL(`./${dynamic}?abc`, import.meta.url)', async () => {
   expect(await page.textContent('.dynamic-import-meta-url-1-query')).toMatch(
-    isBuild ? 'data:image/png;base64' : '/foo/nested/icon.png?abc',
+    isBuild ? 'data:image/png;base64' : '/foo/bar/nested/icon.png?abc',
   )
   expect(await page.textContent('.dynamic-import-meta-url-2-query')).toMatch(
     isBuild
-      ? /\/foo\/assets\/asset-\w{8}\.png\?abc/
-      : '/foo/nested/asset.png?abc',
+      ? /\/foo\/bar\/assets\/asset-\w{8}\.png\?abc/
+      : '/foo/bar/nested/asset.png?abc',
   )
 })
 
 test('new URL(`./${1 === 0 ? static : dynamic}?abc`, import.meta.url)', async () => {
   expect(await page.textContent('.dynamic-import-meta-url-1-ternary')).toMatch(
-    isBuild ? 'data:image/png;base64' : '/foo/nested/icon.png?abc',
+    isBuild ? 'data:image/png;base64' : '/foo/bar/nested/icon.png?abc',
   )
   expect(await page.textContent('.dynamic-import-meta-url-2-ternary')).toMatch(
     isBuild
-      ? /\/foo\/assets\/asset-\w{8}\.png\?abc/
-      : '/foo/nested/asset.png?abc',
+      ? /\/foo\/bar\/assets\/asset-\w{8}\.png\?abc/
+      : '/foo/bar/nested/asset.png?abc',
   )
 })
 
 test('new URL(`non-existent`, import.meta.url)', async () => {
+  // the inlined script tag is extracted in a separate file
+  const importMetaUrl = new URL(
+    isBuild ? '/foo/bar/assets/index.js' : '/foo/bar/index.html',
+    page.url(),
+  )
   expect(await page.textContent('.non-existent-import-meta-url')).toMatch(
-    new URL('non-existent', page.url()).pathname,
+    new URL('non-existent', importMetaUrl).pathname,
   )
 })
 
@@ -464,7 +469,7 @@ test('url() contains file in publicDir, in <style> tag', async () => {
 
 test.skip('url() contains file in publicDir, as inline style', async () => {
   // TODO: To investigate why `await getBg('.inline-style-public') === "url("http://localhost:5173/icon.png")"`
-  // It supposes to be `url("http://localhost:5173/foo/icon.png")`
+  // It supposes to be `url("http://localhost:5173/foo/bar/icon.png")`
   // (I built the playground to verify)
   expect(await getBg('.inline-style-public')).toContain(iconMatch)
 })
@@ -472,6 +477,6 @@ test.skip('url() contains file in publicDir, as inline style', async () => {
 test.runIf(isBuild)('assets inside <noscript> is rewrote', async () => {
   const indexHtml = readFile('./dist/foo/index.html')
   expect(indexHtml).toMatch(
-    /<img class="noscript" src="\/foo\/assets\/asset-\w+\.png" \/>/,
+    /<img class="noscript" src="\/foo\/bar\/assets\/asset-\w+\.png" \/>/,
   )
 })
diff --git a/playground/assets/vite.config.js b/playground/assets/vite.config.js
index a1bcf02143de76..94073d7aa70aa4 100644
--- a/playground/assets/vite.config.js
+++ b/playground/assets/vite.config.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import path from 'node:path'
 import { defineConfig } from 'vite'
 
 export default defineConfig({
-  base: '/foo',
+  base: '/foo/bar',
   publicDir: 'static',
   resolve: {
     alias: {