My Windows username is Márton. In one of the files loaded by my .emacs (neotree.el), I added this line: (print load-file-name) 1. I start Emacs from the command line with no arguments. 2. I view the *Messages* buffer. If the directory from which I launched Emacs has an accent in its path, e.g. "D:\á\", this is printed: "c:/Users/Márton/AppData/Roaming/.emacs.d/elpa/neotree-0.5.2/neotree.el" But if it doesn't, e.g. "D:\a\", this is printed: "c:/Users/Márton/AppData/Roaming/.emacs.d/elpa/neotree-0.5.2/neotree.el" (This prevents the neotree package from loading images in the latter case.) Please see also bug#25038, which seems related. In GNU Emacs 25.3.1 (x86_64-w64-mingw32) of 2017-09-26 built on LAPHROAIG Windowing system distributor 'Microsoft Corp.', version 10.0.16299 Configured using: 'configure --without-dbus --without-compress-install 'CFLAGS=-O2 -static -g3' PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/mingw64/lib/pkgconfig' Configured features: XPM JPEG TIFF GIF PNG RSVG SOUND NOTIFY ACL GNUTLS LIBXML2 ZLIB TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS Important settings: value of $LANG: HUN locale-coding-system: cp1250 Major mode: Messages Minor modes in effect: diff-auto-refine-mode: t shell-dirtrack-mode: t tooltip-mode: t global-eldoc-mode: t electric-indent-mode: t mouse-wheel-mode: t tool-bar-mode: t menu-bar-mode: t file-name-shadow-mode: t global-font-lock-mode: t font-lock-mode: t blink-cursor-mode: t auto-composition-mode: t auto-encryption-mode: t auto-compression-mode: t buffer-read-only: t line-number-mode: t transient-mark-mode: t Recent messages: "TATTARAA TATTARAA TATTARAA" "c:/Users/Márton/AppData/Roaming/.emacs.d/elpa/neotree-0.5.2/neotree.el" "c:/Users/Márton/AppData/Roaming/.emacs.d/elpa/neotree-0.5.2/" Loading c:/Users/Márton/AppData/Roaming/.emacs.d/custom.el (source)...done For information about GNU Emacs and the GNU system, type C-h C-a. Making completion list... Load-path shadows: None found. Features: (shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug message idna rfc822 mml mml-sec epg mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mail-utils vc-git diff-mode easy-mmode cursor-sensor js2-mode etags xref project js sgml-mode cc-mode cc-fonts cc-guess cc-menus cc-cmds cc-styles cc-align cc-engine cc-vars cc-defs imenu dired neotree derived finder-inf package epg-config sql view thingatpt edmacro kmacro python tramp-sh tramp tramp-compat auth-source cl-seq eieio eieio-core cl-macs gnus-util mm-util help-fns mail-prsvr password-cache tramp-loaddefs trampver ucs-normalize shell pcomplete format-spec advice json map seq byte-opt gv bytecomp byte-compile cl-extra help-mode easymenu cconv comint ring cl-loaddefs pcase cl-lib ansi-color time-date mule-util tooltip eldoc electric uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel dos-w32 ls-lisp disp-table w32-win w32-vars term/common-win tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list newcomment elisp-mode lisp-mode prog-mode register page menu-bar rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax facemenu font-core frame cl-generic cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese eucjp-ms cp51932 hebrew greek romanian slovak czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese charscript case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev minibuffer cl-preloaded nadvice loaddefs button faces cus-face macroexp files text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote w32notify w32 multi-tty make-network-process emacs) Memory information: ((conses 16 370288 19749) (symbols 56 34419 0) (miscs 48 60 234) (strings 32 62682 11501) (string-bytes 1 1969857) (vectors 16 54523) (vector-slots 8 895948 6275) (floats 8 467 185) (intervals 56 909 73) (buffers 976 20))