diff --git a/profile/src/nsProfile.cpp b/profile/src/nsProfile.cpp
index 67b59a885e6b..39c7baaa1ce2 100644
--- a/profile/src/nsProfile.cpp
+++ b/profile/src/nsProfile.cpp
@@ -774,7 +774,16 @@ nsProfile::ProcessArgs(nsICmdLineService *cmdLineArgs,
     {
         if (cmdResult) {
 			foundProfileCommandArg = PR_TRUE;
-            nsAutoString currProfileName; currProfileName.AssignWithConversion(cmdResult);
+            // get a platform charset
+            nsAutoString charSet;
+            rv = GetPlatformCharset(charSet);
+            NS_ASSERTION(NS_SUCCEEDED(rv), "failed to get a platform charset");
+
+            // convert the profile name to Unicode
+            nsAutoString currProfileName; 
+            nsCAutoString profileName(strtok(NS_CONST_CAST(char*,(const char*)cmdResult), " "));
+            rv = ConvertStringToUnicode(charSet, profileName.get(), currProfileName);
+            NS_ASSERTION(NS_SUCCEEDED(rv), "failed to convert ProfileName to unicode");
 
 #ifdef DEBUG_profile
             printf("ProfileName : %s\n", (const char*)cmdResult);
@@ -830,7 +839,18 @@ nsProfile::ProcessArgs(nsICmdLineService *cmdLineArgs,
 #endif
 
 			foundProfileCommandArg = PR_TRUE;
-            nsAutoString currProfileName; currProfileName.AssignWithConversion(strtok(NS_CONST_CAST(char*,(const char*)cmdResult), " "));
+
+            // get a platform charset
+            nsAutoString charSet;
+            rv = GetPlatformCharset(charSet);
+            NS_ASSERTION(NS_SUCCEEDED(rv), "failed to get a platform charset");
+
+            // convert the profile name to Unicode
+            nsAutoString currProfileName; 
+            nsCAutoString profileName(strtok(NS_CONST_CAST(char*,(const char*)cmdResult), " "));
+            rv = ConvertStringToUnicode(charSet, profileName.get(), currProfileName);
+            NS_ASSERTION(NS_SUCCEEDED(rv), "failed to convert ProfileName to unicode");
+
             nsAutoString currProfileDirString; currProfileDirString.AssignWithConversion(strtok(NULL, " "));
         
             if (!currProfileDirString.IsEmpty()) {
diff --git a/profile/src/nsProfile.h b/profile/src/nsProfile.h
index ad71cc7bb09f..3f37d3933078 100644
--- a/profile/src/nsProfile.h
+++ b/profile/src/nsProfile.h
@@ -113,3 +113,6 @@ public:
     nsresult ShowProfileWizard(void);
 };
 
+extern nsresult ConvertStringToUnicode(nsString& aCharset, const char* inString, nsAWritableString& outString);
+extern nsresult GetPlatformCharset(nsString& aCharset);
+
diff --git a/profile/src/nsProfileAccess.cpp b/profile/src/nsProfileAccess.cpp
index 171c6eea9724..e83539f15c3e 100644
--- a/profile/src/nsProfileAccess.cpp
+++ b/profile/src/nsProfileAccess.cpp
@@ -114,9 +114,8 @@ nsProfileAccess::~nsProfileAccess()
 }
 
 // A wrapper function to call the interface to get a platform file charset.
-static
 nsresult 
-GetPlatformCharset(nsAutoString& aCharset)
+GetPlatformCharset(nsString& aCharset)
 {
     nsresult rv;
 
@@ -132,9 +131,8 @@ GetPlatformCharset(nsAutoString& aCharset)
 }
 
 // Apply a charset conversion from the given charset to Unicode for input C string.
-static
 nsresult 
-ConvertStringToUnicode(nsAutoString& aCharset, const char* inString, nsAutoString& outString)
+ConvertStringToUnicode(nsString& aCharset, const char* inString, nsAWritableString& outString)
 {
     nsresult rv;
     // convert result to unicode