diff --git a/include/wx/app.h b/include/wx/app.h
index bc17b94b93..0201c8c7b2 100644
--- a/include/wx/app.h
+++ b/include/wx/app.h
@@ -798,17 +798,31 @@ public:
 // your compiler really, really wants main() to be in your main program (e.g.
 // hello.cpp). Now wxIMPLEMENT_APP should add this code if required.
 
-// For compilers that support it, prefer to use wmain() as this ensures any
-// Unicode strings can be passed as command line parameters and not just those
-// representable in the current locale.
-#if wxUSE_UNICODE && defined(__VISUALC__)
-    #define wxIMPLEMENT_WXWIN_MAIN_CONSOLE                                    \
-        int wmain(int argc, wchar_t **argv)                                   \
-        {                                                                     \
-            wxDISABLE_DEBUG_SUPPORT();                                        \
+// For compilers that support it, prefer to use wmain() and let the CRT parse
+// the command line for us, for the others parse it ourselves under Windows to
+// ensure that wxWidgets console applications accept arbitrary Unicode strings
+// as command line parameters and not just those representable in the current
+// locale (under Unix UTF-8, capable of representing any Unicode string, is
+// almost always used and there is no way to retrieve the Unicode command line
+// anyhow).
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE && defined(__WINDOWS__)
+    #ifdef __VISUALC__
+        #define wxIMPLEMENT_WXWIN_MAIN_CONSOLE                                \
+            int wmain(int argc, wchar_t **argv)                               \
+            {                                                                 \
+                wxDISABLE_DEBUG_SUPPORT();                                    \
                                                                               \
-            return wxEntry(argc, argv);                                       \
-        }
+                return wxEntry(argc, argv);                                   \
+            }
+    #else // No wmain(), use main() but don't trust its arguments.
+        #define wxIMPLEMENT_WXWIN_MAIN_CONSOLE                                \
+            int main(int, char **)                                            \
+            {                                                                 \
+                wxDISABLE_DEBUG_SUPPORT();                                    \
+                                                                              \
+                return wxEntry();                                             \
+            }
+    #endif
 #else // Use standard main()
     #define wxIMPLEMENT_WXWIN_MAIN_CONSOLE                                    \
         int main(int argc, char **argv)                                       \
diff --git a/include/wx/init.h b/include/wx/init.h
index 0810cceb49..ea542aea42 100644
--- a/include/wx/init.h
+++ b/include/wx/init.h
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ extern int WXDLLIMPEXP_BASE wxEntry(int& argc, char **argv);
 
 // Under Windows we define additional wxEntry() overloads with signature
 // compatible with WinMain() and not the traditional main().
-#if wxUSE_GUI && defined(__WINDOWS__)
+#ifdef __WINDOWS__
     #include "wx/msw/init.h"
 #endif
 
diff --git a/include/wx/msw/init.h b/include/wx/msw/init.h
index 847fb0888c..eb3fead314 100644
--- a/include/wx/msw/init.h
+++ b/include/wx/msw/init.h
@@ -15,6 +15,14 @@
 // Windows-specific wxEntry() overload and wxIMPLEMENT_WXWIN_MAIN definition
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+// wxEntry() overload using the command line for the current process, instead
+// of argc/argv provided by the CRT. This is only really useful when using
+// Unicode with a compiler not providing wmain() or similar entry point, but is
+// always provided for consistency.
+extern int WXDLLIMPEXP_BASE wxEntry();
+
+#if wxUSE_GUI
+
 // we need HINSTANCE declaration to define WinMain()
 #include "wx/msw/wrapwin.h"
 
@@ -81,5 +89,6 @@ extern WXDLLIMPEXP_CORE int
     }                                                                       \
     wxIMPLEMENT_WXWIN_MAIN_BORLAND_NONSTANDARD
 
+#endif // wxUSE_GUI
 
 #endif // _WX_MSW_INIT_H_
diff --git a/src/msw/main.cpp b/src/msw/main.cpp
index c2bda5e531..f2ea2860b7 100644
--- a/src/msw/main.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/main.cpp
@@ -194,8 +194,6 @@ int wxEntry(int& argc, wxChar **argv)
 
 #endif // wxUSE_BASE
 
-#if wxUSE_GUI
-
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Windows-specific wxEntry
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -204,8 +202,17 @@ struct wxMSWCommandLineArguments
 {
     wxMSWCommandLineArguments() { argc = 0; argv = NULL; }
 
-    void Init(const wxArrayString& args)
+    // Initialize this object from the current process command line.
+    void Init()
     {
+        // Get the command line.
+        const wxChar* const cmdLine = ::GetCommandLine();
+        if ( !cmdLine )
+            return;
+
+        // And tokenize it.
+        const wxArrayString args = wxCmdLineParser::ConvertStringToArgs(cmdLine);
+
         argc = args.size();
 
         // +1 here for the terminating NULL
@@ -239,6 +246,8 @@ struct wxMSWCommandLineArguments
 
 static wxMSWCommandLineArguments wxArgs;
 
+#if wxUSE_GUI
+
 // common part of wxMSW-specific wxEntryStart() and wxEntry() overloads
 static bool
 wxMSWEntryCommon(HINSTANCE hInstance, int nCmdShow)
@@ -249,20 +258,7 @@ wxMSWEntryCommon(HINSTANCE hInstance, int nCmdShow)
     wxApp::m_nCmdShow = nCmdShow;
 #endif
 
-    // parse the command line: we can't use pCmdLine in Unicode build so it is
-    // simpler to never use it at all (this also results in a more correct
-    // argv[0])
-
-    // break the command line in words
-    wxArrayString args;
-
-    const wxChar *cmdLine = ::GetCommandLine();
-    if ( cmdLine )
-    {
-        args = wxCmdLineParser::ConvertStringToArgs(cmdLine);
-    }
-
-    wxArgs.Init(args);
+    wxArgs.Init();
 
     return true;
 }
@@ -289,7 +285,16 @@ WXDLLEXPORT int wxEntry(HINSTANCE hInstance,
     return wxEntry(wxArgs.argc, wxArgs.argv);
 }
 
-#endif // wxUSE_GUI
+#else // !wxUSE_GUI
+
+int wxEntry()
+{
+    wxArgs.Init();
+
+    return wxEntry(wxArgs.argc, wxArgs.argv);
+}
+
+#endif // wxUSE_GUI/!wxUSE_GUI
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // global HINSTANCE