diff --git a/programs/msiexec/Makefile.in b/programs/msiexec/Makefile.in
index 10e1cc4f647..c2bd981581f 100644
--- a/programs/msiexec/Makefile.in
+++ b/programs/msiexec/Makefile.in
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ SRCDIR    = @srcdir@
 VPATH     = @srcdir@
 MODULE    = msiexec.exe
 APPMODE   = -mconsole
-IMPORTS   = msi shell32 ole32 advapi32 user32 kernel32
+IMPORTS   = msi ole32 advapi32 user32 kernel32
 
 C_SRCS = \
 	msiexec.c
diff --git a/programs/msiexec/msiexec.c b/programs/msiexec/msiexec.c
index 2d2728c8e82..810dd70bcc8 100644
--- a/programs/msiexec/msiexec.c
+++ b/programs/msiexec/msiexec.c
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 #include <msi.h>
 #include <objbase.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
-#include <shellapi.h>
 
 #include "wine/debug.h"
 #include "wine/unicode.h"
@@ -211,6 +210,14 @@ static DWORD msi_atou(LPCWSTR str)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static LPWSTR msi_strdup(LPCWSTR str)
+{
+	DWORD len = lstrlenW(str)+1;
+	LPWSTR ret = HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), 0, sizeof(WCHAR)*len);
+	lstrcpyW(ret, str);
+	return ret;
+}
+
 /* str1 is the same as str2, ignoring case */
 static BOOL msi_strequal(LPCWSTR str1, LPCSTR str2)
 {
@@ -366,6 +373,97 @@ static INT DoEmbedding( LPWSTR key )
 	return 1;
 }
 
+/*
+ * state machine to break up the command line properly
+ */
+
+enum chomp_state
+{
+	cs_whitespace,
+	cs_token,
+	cs_quote
+};
+
+static int chomp( WCHAR *str )
+{
+	enum chomp_state state = cs_whitespace;
+	WCHAR *p, *out;
+	int count = 0, ignore;
+
+	for( p = str, out = str; *p; p++ )
+	{
+		ignore = 1;
+		switch( state )
+		{
+		case cs_whitespace:
+			switch( *p )
+			{
+			case ' ':
+				break;
+			case '"':
+				state = cs_quote;
+				count++;
+				break;
+			default:
+				count++;
+				ignore = 0;
+				state = cs_token;
+			}
+			break;
+
+		case cs_token:
+			switch( *p )
+			{
+			case '"':
+				state = cs_quote;
+				break;
+			case ' ':
+				state = cs_whitespace;
+				*out++ = 0;
+				break;
+			default:
+				ignore = 0;
+			}
+			break;
+
+		case cs_quote:
+			switch( *p )
+			{
+			case '"':
+				state = cs_token;
+				break;
+			default:
+				ignore = 0;
+			}
+			break;
+		}
+		if( !ignore )
+			*out++ = *p;
+	}
+
+	*out = 0;
+
+	return count;
+}
+
+static void process_args( WCHAR *cmdline, int *pargc, WCHAR ***pargv )
+{
+	WCHAR **argv, *p = msi_strdup(cmdline);
+	int i, n;
+
+	n = chomp( p );
+	argv = HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), 0, sizeof (WCHAR*)*(n+1));
+	for( i=0; i<n; i++ )
+	{
+		argv[i] = p;
+		p += lstrlenW(p) + 1;
+	}
+	argv[i] = NULL;
+
+	*pargc = n;
+	*pargv = argv;
+}
+
 static BOOL process_args_from_reg( LPWSTR ident, int *pargc, WCHAR ***pargv )
 {
 	LONG r;
@@ -384,7 +482,7 @@ static BOOL process_args_from_reg( LPWSTR ident, int *pargc, WCHAR ***pargv )
 		r = RegQueryValueExW(hkey, ident, 0, &type, (LPBYTE)buf, &sz);
 		if( r == ERROR_SUCCESS )
 		{
-			*pargv = CommandLineToArgvW(buf, pargc);
+			process_args(buf, pargc, pargv);
 			ret = TRUE;
 		}
 	}
@@ -430,7 +528,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	LPWSTR *argvW = NULL;
 
 	/* overwrite the command line */
-	argvW = CommandLineToArgvW( GetCommandLineW(), &argc );
+	process_args( GetCommandLineW(), &argc, &argvW );
 
 	/*
 	 * If the args begin with /@ IDENT then we need to load the real