--- a/src/mbyte.c
+++ b/src/mbyte.c
@@ -426,6 +426,9 @@ mb_init()
     vimconv_T	vimconv;
     char_u	*p;
 #endif
+#ifdef WIN32
+    int		prev_enc_utf8 = enc_utf8;
+#endif
 
     if (p_enc == NULL)
     {
@@ -684,6 +687,17 @@ codepage_invalid:
 					  enc_utf8 ? "utf-8" : (char *)p_enc);
 #endif
 
+#ifdef WIN32
+    /* When changing 'encoding' while starting up, then convert the command
+     * line arguments from the active codepage to 'encoding'. */
+    if (starting != 0)
+    {
+	extern void fix_arg_enc(void);
+
+	fix_arg_enc();
+    }
+#endif
+
 #ifdef FEAT_AUTOCMD
     /* Fire an autocommand to let people do custom font setup. This must be
      * after Vim has been setup for the new encoding. */