Local File references in KML

[EKYPilot]

I have run into a situation where I am trying to link to a local image file using kml. Basically, I have a lot of images that are location specific, and I am currently unable to relocate them to a webserver. All of the users who need to see them have access to them on a shared drive. We'll call it "T". The standard html to show this file would be:
Code:

---

<img src="file:///T:\GIS\Images\000100.jpg">

---

However, passing this into kml in the description tag doesn't work. I am wrapping this in a <!CDATA tag, so Google Earth shouldn't change the formatting.
I changed the link to a standard href so I could see the error. My KML looks like:
Code:

---

<Placemark>
  <name>Local File Reference</name>
  <description><!CDATA[ This should work, but doesn't.<br>
	<a href="file:///T:\GIS\Images\000100.jpg">Click me to visit the local image.!</a>]]>
	</description>
</Placemark>

---

When I open it, I'm getting an error that Google Earth can't find the location "t:/GIS/Images/000100.jpg". I've re-saved the kml file from Google Earth to make sure that the underlying code still uses the appropriate backslashes.

Is there a specific reason why Google Earth is reformatting the url? Do I need to wrap this some other way?

Thanks.