diff --git a/src/Main/MainGui.cpp b/src/Main/MainGui.cpp
index 641268fcfd..5806630c69 100644
--- a/src/Main/MainGui.cpp
+++ b/src/Main/MainGui.cpp
@@ -204,6 +204,25 @@ int main( int argc, char ** argv )
     _putenv("PYTHONPATH=");
 #endif
 
+#if defined (FC_OS_WIN32)
+    int argc_ = argc;
+    QVector<QByteArray> data;
+    QVector<char *> argv_;
+
+    // get the command line arguments as unicode string
+    {
+        QCoreApplication app(argc, argv);
+        QStringList args = app.arguments();
+        args.pop_front(); // remove 1st argument
+        argv_.push_back(argv[0]);
+        for (QStringList::iterator it = args.begin(); it != args.end(); ++it) {
+            data.push_back(it->toUtf8());
+            argv_.push_back(data.back().data());
+        }
+        argv_.push_back(0); // 0-terminated string
+    }
+#endif
+
     // Name and Version of the Application
     App::Application::Config()["ExeName"] = "FreeCAD";
     App::Application::Config()["ExeVendor"] = "FreeCAD";
@@ -226,7 +245,11 @@ int main( int argc, char ** argv )
         App::Application::Config()["RunMode"] = "Gui";
 
         // Inits the Application 
-        App::Application::init(argc,argv);
+#if defined (FC_OS_WIN32)
+        App::Application::init(argc_, argv_.data());
+#else
+        App::Application::init(argc, argv);
+#endif
 #if defined(_MSC_VER)
         // create a dump file when the application crashes
         std::string dmpfile = App::Application::getUserAppDataDir();