diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
index 2f23f82..7319568 100644
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -7248,7 +7248,8 @@
 {
 	char *filepath;
 	HINSTANCE rc;
-	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "s:startfile", &filepath))
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "et:startfile", 
+				Py_FileSystemDefaultEncoding, &filepath))
 		return NULL;
 	Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
 	rc = ShellExecute((HWND)0, NULL, filepath, NULL, NULL, SW_SHOWNORMAL);