As I explain in [1], many Windows programs get command line argument quoting wrong. Emacs is one of these programs. The attached patch resolves the issue, and if there are no objections, I'll apply it to both the Emacs 23 branch and the trunk in the next few days. [1] http://blogs.msdn.com/b/twistylittlepassagesallalike/archive/2011/04/23/everyone-quotes-arguments-the-wrong-way.aspx