Bug manifests on Windows 10 ( I haven't tested other versions). Before starting emacs: C:\Users\JoakimHårsman>chdir C:\Users\JoakimHårsman C:\Users\JoakimHårsman>echo %HOME% C:\users\JoakimHårsman C:\Users\JoakimHårsman> runemacs -Q Notice that the current directory which is the same as the HOME environment, contains the letter å. After starting emacs with runemacs -Q: (expand-file-name default-directory) returns "c:/users/JoakimH rsman/" or alternatively "c:/users/JoakimH\303\245rsman/" while the correct return value should be "c:/users/JoakimHårsman/" In GNU Emacs 28.0.50 (build 1, x86_64-w64-mingw32) Repository revision: 7640f1da0be206a7598c96acdfdaaf390a2b546c Repository branch: master Windowing system distributor 'Microsoft Corp.', version 10.0.19043 System Description: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (v10.0.2009.19043.1165) Configured using: 'configure --prefix=/d/a/emacs-build/emacs-build/pkg/master-x86_64 --with-native-compilation --with-zlib --with-gnutls --with-xml2 --with-lcms2 --with-json --with-harfbuzz --without-cairo --with-rsvg --with-png --with-gif --without-tiff --with-jpeg --with-xpm --disable-build-details --disable-silent-rules --without-dbus --without-compress-install' Configured features: ACL GIF GMP GNUTLS HARFBUZZ JPEG JSON LCMS2 LIBXML2 MODULES NATIVE_COMP NOTIFY W32NOTIFY PDUMPER PNG RSVG SOUND THREADS TOOLKIT_SCROLL_BARS XPM ZLIB Important settings: value of $LANG: en_US.UTF8 locale-coding-system: cp1252 Major mode: Lisp Interaction Minor modes in effect: tooltip-mode: t global-eldoc-mode: t 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 line-number-mode: t indent-tabs-mode: t transient-mark-mode: t Load-path shadows: None found. Features: (shadow sort mail-extr emacsbug message rmc puny dired dired-loaddefs rfc822 mml mml-sec epa derived epg epg-config gnus-util rmail rmail-loaddefs auth-source eieio eieio-core eieio-loaddefs password-cache json map text-property-search time-date mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231 mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail comp comp-cstr warnings subr-x rx cl-seq cl-macs cl-extra help-mode seq byte-opt gv cl-loaddefs cl-lib bytecomp byte-compile cconv rfc2047 rfc2045 ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils iso-transl tooltip eldoc electric uniquify ediff-hook vc-hooks lisp-float-type mwheel dos-w32 ls-lisp disp-table term/w32-win w32-win w32-vars term/common-win tool-bar dnd fontset image regexp-opt fringe tabulated-list replace newcomment text-mode elisp-mode lisp-mode prog-mode register page tab-bar menu-bar rfn-eshadow isearch easymenu timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax font-core term/tty-colors frame minibuffer 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 composite charscript charprop case-table epa-hook jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev obarray cl-preloaded nadvice button loaddefs faces cus-face macroexp files window text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote threads w32notify w32 lcms2 multi-tty make-network-process native-compile emacs) Memory information: ((conses 16 89375 14408) (symbols 48 7898 1) (strings 32 22918 3463) (string-bytes 1 759569) (vectors 16 23743) (vector-slots 8 1091049 147200) (floats 8 29 266) (intervals 56 257 0) (buffers 992 12))