With this version: GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (i686-pc-mingw32) of 2015-04-11 on LEG570 On Windows 7 professional, In scratch buffer, evaluate the following: (w32-shell-execute "open" " http://sage/rnd/rndprojects/myproject/Project%20Management/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFolder=%2frnd%2frndprojects%2fHNJ%2dHEVC%2fProject%20Management%2f%5fMeeting%20Minutes&FolderCTID=0x01200091670F1D770B314A8F69FA9D507AF4A9&View=%7b6AD90071%2dEB9F%2d4E1D%2d9250%2d282C8580F2F1%7d ") Now if you check the actual URL sent to the browser, some garbage will appear at the end of the URL. If you shorten the URL (to a point), that does not happen. I verified at least with Emacs 24.3 there is no such issue. PS: I feel Emacs release quality has been dropping over the years. Wish this can change. Thanks.