Google vs Windows Path Conversion

So far I haven’t found a way to prevent the String to Path node from converting a URI string into a windows path (converting forward slashes to backslashes). The Excel Reader node can only accept a path variable so how exactly does a Google Drive URI get passed to it without being converted back into a windows path, which it won’t recognize as a flow variable? I’ve tested this using a java node, a python node, and a few other ways and so far there is some kind of underlying problem that is preventing path conversion from taking place. This seems like an issue that’s been around a while. Is there a solution to it because there’s no way to pass a dynamic path to it otherwise?