diff --git a/targets/win32/nanoCLR/main.cpp b/targets/win32/nanoCLR/main.cpp
index e13577f43a..93fa02337c 100644
--- a/targets/win32/nanoCLR/main.cpp
+++ b/targets/win32/nanoCLR/main.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 #include <nanoCLR_Application.h>
 #include <target_common.h>
 #include <iostream>
+#include <locale>
+#include <codecvt>
+#include <string>
 
 //
 // UNDONE: Feature configuration
@@ -68,7 +71,7 @@ bool Target_GetReleaseInfo(NFReleaseInfo &releaseInfo)
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //
 
-int _tmain(int argc, wchar_t *argv[])
+int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR *argv[])
 {
     wprintf(L"\n.NET nanoFramework nanoCLR WIN32 v");
     std::cout << VERSION_STRING;
@@ -87,10 +90,11 @@ int _tmain(int argc, wchar_t *argv[])
     // fill arguments from command line
     clrSettings.StartArgs.resize(argc - 1);
 
+    std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8_utf16<wchar_t>> converter;
+
     for (int i = 0; i < argc - 1; i++)
     {
-        std::wstring argv_ = std::wstring(argv[1 + i]);
-        clrSettings.StartArgs[i] = argv_;
+        clrSettings.StartArgs[i] = converter.from_bytes(argv[1 + i]);
     }
 
     ClrStartup(clrSettings);