diff --git a/common/iobuf.c b/common/iobuf.c
index a5b8d5955..e82e75d1b 100644
--- a/common/iobuf.c
+++ b/common/iobuf.c
@@ -198,6 +198,19 @@ fd_cache_strcmp (const char *a, const char *b)
 #endif
 }
 
+
+#ifdef HAVE_W32_SYSTEM
+static int
+any8bitchar (const char *string)
+{
+  if (string)
+    for ( ; *string; string++)
+      if ((*string & 0x80))
+        return 1;
+  return 0;
+}
+#endif /*HAVE_W32_SYSTEM*/
+
 /*
  * Invalidate (i.e. close) a cached iobuf
  */
@@ -299,21 +312,23 @@ direct_open (const char *fname, const char *mode, int mode700)
       sm = FILE_SHARE_READ;
     }
 
-#ifdef HAVE_W32CE_SYSTEM
-  {
-    wchar_t *wfname = utf8_to_wchar (fname);
-    if (wfname)
-      {
-        hfile = CreateFile (wfname, da, sm, NULL, cd,
-                            FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
-        xfree (wfname);
-      }
-    else
-      hfile = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
-  }
-#else
-  hfile = CreateFile (fname, da, sm, NULL, cd, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
-#endif
+  /* We use the Unicode version of the function only if needed to
+   * avoid an extra conversion step.  */
+  if (any8bitchar (fname))
+    {
+      wchar_t *wfname = utf8_to_wchar (fname);
+      if (wfname)
+        {
+          hfile = CreateFileW (wfname, da, sm, NULL, cd,
+                               FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
+          xfree (wfname);
+        }
+      else
+        hfile = INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE;
+    }
+  else
+    hfile = CreateFileA (fname, da, sm, NULL, cd, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL);
+
   return hfile;
 
 #else /*!HAVE_W32_SYSTEM*/
diff --git a/common/sysutils.c b/common/sysutils.c
index 6738da108..bfb5d7dd8 100644
--- a/common/sysutils.c
+++ b/common/sysutils.c
@@ -182,6 +182,18 @@ enable_core_dumps (void)
 #endif
 }
 
+#ifdef HAVE_W32_SYSTEM
+static int
+any8bitchar (const char *string)
+{
+  if (string)
+    for ( ; *string; string++)
+      if ((*string & 0x80))
+        return 1;
+  return 0;
+}
+#endif /*HAVE_W32_SYSTEM*/
+
 
 /* Allow the use of special "-&nnn" style file names.  */
 void
@@ -1066,6 +1078,30 @@ gnupg_access (const char *name, int mode)
 #endif
 }
 
+/* A wrapper around open to handle Unicode file names under Windows.  */
+int
+gnupg_open (const char *name, int flags, unsigned int mode)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_W32_SYSTEM
+  if (any8bitchar (name))
+    {
+      wchar_t *wname;
+      int ret;
+
+      wname = utf8_to_wchar (name);
+      if (!wname)
+        return -1;
+      ret = _wopen (wname, flags, mode);
+      xfree (wname);
+      return ret;
+    }
+  else
+    return open (name, flags, mode);
+#else
+  return open (name, flags, mode);
+#endif
+}
+
 
 /* Try to set an envvar.  Print only a notice on error.  */
 #ifndef HAVE_W32_SYSTEM
diff --git a/common/sysutils.h b/common/sysutils.h
index 12b45e47c..d088fe29f 100644
--- a/common/sysutils.h
+++ b/common/sysutils.h
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ int  gnupg_setenv (const char *name, const char *value, int overwrite);
 int  gnupg_unsetenv (const char *name);
 char *gnupg_getcwd (void);
 gpg_err_code_t gnupg_access (const char *name, int mode);
+int gnupg_open (const char *name, int flags, unsigned int mode);
 gpg_error_t gnupg_chuid (const char *user, int silent);
 char *gnupg_get_socket_name (int fd);
 int gnupg_fd_valid (int fd);
diff --git a/dirmngr/crlcache.c b/dirmngr/crlcache.c
index 131a0bd8d..54caf4136 100644
--- a/dirmngr/crlcache.c
+++ b/dirmngr/crlcache.c
@@ -1142,7 +1142,7 @@ lock_db_file (crl_cache_t cache, crl_cache_entry_t entry)
       xfree (fname);
       return NULL;
     }
-  fd = open (fname, O_RDONLY | O_BINARY);
+  fd = gnupg_open (fname, O_RDONLY | O_BINARY, 0);
   if (fd == -1)
     {
       log_error (_("error opening cache file '%s': %s\n"),
@@ -2226,7 +2226,7 @@ crl_cache_insert (ctrl_t ctrl, const char *url, ksba_reader_t reader)
       }
   }
 
-  fd_cdb = open (fname, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_BINARY, 0644);
+  fd_cdb = gnupg_open (fname, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_BINARY, 0644);
   if (fd_cdb == -1)
     {
       err = gpg_error_from_errno (errno);
diff --git a/g10/gpg.c b/g10/gpg.c
index 412867b91..1b1d18969 100644
--- a/g10/gpg.c
+++ b/g10/gpg.c
@@ -1407,10 +1407,10 @@ open_info_file (const char *fname, int for_write, int binary)
       do
         {
           if (for_write)
-            fd = open (fname, O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_WRONLY | binary,
-                        S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IWGRP);
+            fd = gnupg_open (fname, O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_WRONLY | binary,
+                             S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IRGRP | S_IWGRP);
           else
-            fd = open (fname, O_RDONLY | binary);
+            fd = gnupg_open (fname, O_RDONLY | binary, 0);
         }
       while (fd == -1 && errno == EINTR);
 /*     } */
diff --git a/g10/tdbio.c b/g10/tdbio.c
index fdb90ec53..193f80dc2 100644
--- a/g10/tdbio.c
+++ b/g10/tdbio.c
@@ -753,7 +753,7 @@ tdbio_set_dbname (ctrl_t ctrl, const char *new_dbname,
         log_fatal (_("can't create '%s': %s\n"), fname, strerror (errno));
       es_fclose (fp);
 
-      db_fd = open (db_name, O_RDWR | MY_O_BINARY);
+      db_fd = gnupg_open (db_name, O_RDWR | MY_O_BINARY, 0);
       if (db_fd == -1)
         log_fatal (_("can't open '%s': %s\n"), db_name, strerror (errno));
 
@@ -813,7 +813,7 @@ open_db ()
                  (int)prevrc, (int)GetLastError ());
   }
 #else /*!HAVE_W32CE_SYSTEM*/
-  db_fd = open (db_name, O_RDWR | MY_O_BINARY );
+  db_fd = gnupg_open (db_name, O_RDWR | MY_O_BINARY, 0);
   if (db_fd == -1 && (errno == EACCES
 #ifdef EROFS
                       || errno == EROFS
@@ -821,7 +821,7 @@ open_db ()
                       )
       ) {
       /* Take care of read-only trustdbs.  */
-      db_fd = open (db_name, O_RDONLY | MY_O_BINARY );
+      db_fd = gnupg_open (db_name, O_RDONLY | MY_O_BINARY, 0);
       if (db_fd != -1 && !opt.quiet)
           log_info (_("Note: trustdb not writable\n"));
   }
diff --git a/sm/gpgsm.c b/sm/gpgsm.c
index ef5f801c8..e461f99fe 100644
--- a/sm/gpgsm.c
+++ b/sm/gpgsm.c
@@ -2324,7 +2324,7 @@ open_read (const char *filename)
   fd = check_special_filename (filename, 0, 0);
   if (fd != -1)
     return fd;
-  fd = open (filename, O_RDONLY | O_BINARY);
+  fd = gnupg_open (filename, O_RDONLY | O_BINARY, 0);
   if (fd == -1)
     {
       log_error (_("can't open '%s': %s\n"), filename, strerror (errno));
diff --git a/tools/gpgconf-comp.c b/tools/gpgconf-comp.c
index 5efe6e50a..26f213666 100644
--- a/tools/gpgconf-comp.c
+++ b/tools/gpgconf-comp.c
@@ -2226,8 +2226,9 @@ change_options_program (gc_component_id_t component,
   *dest_filenamep = dest_filename;
   *orig_filenamep = orig_filename;
 
-  /* Use open() so that we can use O_EXCL.  */
-  fd = open (src_filename, O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_WRONLY, 0644);
+  /* Use open() so that we can use O_EXCL.
+   * FIXME: gpgrt has an x flag for quite some time now - use that.  */
+  fd = gnupg_open (src_filename, O_CREAT | O_EXCL | O_WRONLY, 0644);
   if (fd < 0)
     return -1;
   src_file = gpgrt_fdopen (fd, "w");