diff --git a/unreleased_changes/8761.md b/unreleased_changes/8761.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2cfcd48afd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unreleased_changes/8761.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+### Fixed
+- Fixed a bug where dataset layer attachments with absolute paths would not get loaded unless the paths are specified with file:// scheme.
diff --git a/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/datavault/FileSystemDataVault.scala b/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/datavault/FileSystemDataVault.scala
index 85a05da9162..b26eefd7d5d 100644
--- a/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/datavault/FileSystemDataVault.scala
+++ b/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/datavault/FileSystemDataVault.scala
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ class FileSystemDataVault extends DataVault {
   private def vaultPathToLocalPath(path: VaultPath)(implicit ec: ExecutionContext): Fox[Path] = {
     val uri = path.toUri
     for {
-      _ <- Fox.fromBool(uri.getScheme == DataVaultService.schemeFile) ?~> "trying to read from FileSystemDataVault, but uri scheme is not file"
+      _ <- Fox.fromBool(uri.getScheme == null || uri.getScheme == DataVaultService.schemeFile) ?~> "trying to read from FileSystemDataVault, but uri scheme is not file or null"
       _ <- Fox.fromBool(uri.getHost == null || uri.getHost.isEmpty) ?~> s"trying to read from FileSystemDataVault, but hostname ${uri.getHost} is non-empty"
       localPath = Paths.get(uri.getPath)
       _ <- Fox.fromBool(localPath.isAbsolute) ?~> "trying to read from FileSystemDataVault, but hostname is non-empty"
diff --git a/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/models/datasource/DatasetLayerAttachments.scala b/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/models/datasource/DatasetLayerAttachments.scala
index 8a8138d5e75..a884b5c69d0 100644
--- a/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/models/datasource/DatasetLayerAttachments.scala
+++ b/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/models/datasource/DatasetLayerAttachments.scala
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package com.scalableminds.webknossos.datastore.models.datasource
 import com.scalableminds.util.enumeration.ExtendedEnumeration
 import com.scalableminds.util.io.PathUtils
 import com.scalableminds.util.tools.{Box, Full}
+import com.scalableminds.webknossos.datastore.storage.DataVaultService
 import org.apache.commons.io.FilenameUtils
 import play.api.libs.json.{Format, Json}
 
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ case class LayerAttachment(name: String,
                            credentialId: Option[String] = None) {
   // Warning: throws! Use inside of tryo
   def localPath: Path = {
-    if (path.getScheme.nonEmpty && path.getScheme != "file") {
+    if (path.getScheme != null && path.getScheme.nonEmpty && path.getScheme != DataVaultService.schemeFile) {
       throw new Exception(
         "Trying to open non-local hdf5 file. Hdf5 files are only supported on the datastore-local file system.")
     }
diff --git a/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/storage/DataVaultService.scala b/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/storage/DataVaultService.scala
index a7d295aeba2..9f6f384d5d9 100644
--- a/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/storage/DataVaultService.scala
+++ b/webknossos-datastore/app/com/scalableminds/webknossos/datastore/storage/DataVaultService.scala
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class DataVaultService @Inject()(ws: WSClient, config: DataStoreConfig) extends
         S3DataVault.create(remoteSource, ws)
       } else if (scheme == DataVaultService.schemeHttps || scheme == DataVaultService.schemeHttp) {
         HttpsDataVault.create(remoteSource, ws, config.Http.uri)
-      } else if (scheme == DataVaultService.schemeFile) {
+      } else if (scheme == DataVaultService.schemeFile || scheme == null) {
         FileSystemDataVault.create
       } else {
         throw new Exception(s"Unknown file system scheme $scheme")