diff --git a/Foundation/include/Poco/Exception.h b/Foundation/include/Poco/Exception.h
index fb76576c3..5e582e045 100644
--- a/Foundation/include/Poco/Exception.h
+++ b/Foundation/include/Poco/Exception.h
@@ -255,6 +255,8 @@ POCO_DECLARE_EXCEPTION(Foundation_API, OpenFileException, FileException)
 POCO_DECLARE_EXCEPTION(Foundation_API, WriteFileException, FileException)
 POCO_DECLARE_EXCEPTION(Foundation_API, ReadFileException, FileException)
 POCO_DECLARE_EXCEPTION(Foundation_API, UnknownURISchemeException, RuntimeException)
+POCO_DECLARE_EXCEPTION(Foundation_API, TooManyURIRedirectsException, RuntimeException)
+POCO_DECLARE_EXCEPTION(Foundation_API, URISyntaxException, SyntaxException)
 
 POCO_DECLARE_EXCEPTION(Foundation_API, ApplicationException, Exception)
 POCO_DECLARE_EXCEPTION(Foundation_API, BadCastException, RuntimeException)
diff --git a/Foundation/src/Exception.cpp b/Foundation/src/Exception.cpp
index fd1eacd66..738d4dfc8 100644
--- a/Foundation/src/Exception.cpp
+++ b/Foundation/src/Exception.cpp
@@ -179,7 +179,8 @@ POCO_IMPLEMENT_EXCEPTION(OpenFileException, FileException, "Cannot open file")
 POCO_IMPLEMENT_EXCEPTION(WriteFileException, FileException, "Cannot write file")
 POCO_IMPLEMENT_EXCEPTION(ReadFileException, FileException, "Cannot read file")
 POCO_IMPLEMENT_EXCEPTION(UnknownURISchemeException, RuntimeException, "Unknown URI scheme")
-
+POCO_IMPLEMENT_EXCEPTION(TooManyURIRedirectsException, RuntimeException, "Too many URI redirects")
+POCO_IMPLEMENT_EXCEPTION(URISyntaxException, SyntaxException, "Bad URI syntax")
 
 POCO_IMPLEMENT_EXCEPTION(ApplicationException, Exception, "Application exception")
 POCO_IMPLEMENT_EXCEPTION(BadCastException, RuntimeException, "Bad cast exception")
diff --git a/Foundation/src/URI.cpp b/Foundation/src/URI.cpp
index 0f375bd29..e0cbb241a 100644
--- a/Foundation/src/URI.cpp
+++ b/Foundation/src/URI.cpp
@@ -660,9 +660,9 @@ void URI::decode(const std::string& str, std::string& decodedStr, bool plusAsSpa
 		if (inQuery && plusAsSpace && c == '+') c = ' ';
 		else if (c == '%')
 		{
-			if (it == end) throw SyntaxException("URI encoding: no hex digit following percent sign", str);
+			if (it == end) throw URISyntaxException("URI encoding: no hex digit following percent sign", str);
 			char hi = *it++;
-			if (it == end) throw SyntaxException("URI encoding: two hex digits must follow percent sign", str);
+			if (it == end) throw URISyntaxException("URI encoding: two hex digits must follow percent sign", str);
 			char lo = *it++;
 			if (hi >= '0' && hi <= '9')
 				c = hi - '0';
@@ -670,7 +670,7 @@ void URI::decode(const std::string& str, std::string& decodedStr, bool plusAsSpa
 				c = hi - 'A' + 10;
 			else if (hi >= 'a' && hi <= 'f')
 				c = hi - 'a' + 10;
-			else throw SyntaxException("URI encoding: not a hex digit");
+			else throw URISyntaxException("URI encoding: not a hex digit");
 			c *= 16;
 			if (lo >= '0' && lo <= '9')
 				c += lo - '0';
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ void URI::decode(const std::string& str, std::string& decodedStr, bool plusAsSpa
 				c += lo - 'A' + 10;
 			else if (lo >= 'a' && lo <= 'f')
 				c += lo - 'a' + 10;
-			else throw SyntaxException("URI encoding: not a hex digit");
+			else throw URISyntaxException("URI encoding: not a hex digit");
 		}
 		decodedStr += c;
 	}
@@ -732,7 +732,7 @@ void URI::parse(const std::string& uri)
 		if (it != end && *it == ':')
 		{
 			++it;
-			if (it == end) throw SyntaxException("URI scheme must be followed by authority or path", uri);
+			if (it == end) throw URISyntaxException("URI scheme must be followed by authority or path", uri);
 			setScheme(scheme);
 			if (*it == '/')
 			{
@@ -786,7 +786,7 @@ void URI::parseHostAndPort(std::string::const_iterator& it, const std::string::c
 		// IPv6 address
 		++it;
 		while (it != end && *it != ']') host += *it++;
-		if (it == end) throw SyntaxException("unterminated IPv6 address");
+		if (it == end) throw URISyntaxException("unterminated IPv6 address");
 		++it;
 	}
 	else
@@ -804,7 +804,7 @@ void URI::parseHostAndPort(std::string::const_iterator& it, const std::string::c
 			if (NumberParser::tryParse(port, nport) && nport > 0 && nport < 65536)
 				_port = (unsigned short) nport;
 			else
-				throw SyntaxException("bad or invalid port number", port);
+				throw URISyntaxException("bad or invalid port number", port);
 		}
 		else _port = getWellKnownPort();
 	}
diff --git a/Foundation/src/URIStreamOpener.cpp b/Foundation/src/URIStreamOpener.cpp
index 825fb1c60..14ffa6d3a 100644
--- a/Foundation/src/URIStreamOpener.cpp
+++ b/Foundation/src/URIStreamOpener.cpp
@@ -62,13 +62,34 @@ std::istream* URIStreamOpener::open(const std::string& pathOrURI) const
 		std::string scheme(uri.getScheme());
 		FactoryMap::const_iterator it = _map.find(scheme);
 		if (it != _map.end())
+		{
 			return openURI(scheme, uri);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			Path path;
+			if (path.tryParse(pathOrURI, Path::PATH_GUESS))
+				return openFile(path);
+			else 
+				throw UnknownURISchemeException(pathOrURI);
+		}
 	}
-	catch (Exception&)
+	catch (UnknownURISchemeException&)
 	{
+		throw;
+	}
+	catch (TooManyURIRedirectsException&)
+	{
+		throw;
+	}
+	catch (URISyntaxException&)
+	{
+		Path path;
+		if (path.tryParse(pathOrURI, Path::PATH_GUESS))
+			return openFile(path);
+		else 
+			throw;
 	}
-	Path path(pathOrURI, Path::PATH_GUESS);
-	return openFile(path);
 }
 
 
@@ -87,6 +108,14 @@ std::istream* URIStreamOpener::open(const std::string& basePathOrURI, const std:
 			return openURI(scheme, uri);
 		}
 	}
+	catch (UnknownURISchemeException&)
+	{
+		throw;
+	} 
+	catch (TooManyURIRedirectsException&)
+	{
+		throw;
+	} 
 	catch (Exception&)
 	{
 	}
@@ -176,7 +205,7 @@ std::istream* URIStreamOpener::openURI(const std::string& scheme, const URI& uri
 			++redirects;
 		}
 	}
-	throw IOException("Too many redirects while opening URI", uri.toString());
+	throw TooManyURIRedirectsException(uri.toString());
 }