diff --git a/reactos/base/shell/explorer/services/startup.c b/reactos/base/shell/explorer/services/startup.c
index 51654d03064..daefd1fb0e6 100644
--- a/reactos/base/shell/explorer/services/startup.c
+++ b/reactos/base/shell/explorer/services/startup.c
@@ -243,6 +243,9 @@ static int runCmd(LPWSTR cmdline, LPCWSTR dir, BOOL wait, BOOL minimized)
     STARTUPINFOW si;
     PROCESS_INFORMATION info;
     DWORD exit_code=0;
+    WCHAR szCmdLineExp[MAX_PATH+1]= L"\0";
+
+    ExpandEnvironmentStrings(cmdline, szCmdLineExp, sizeof(szCmdLineExp));
 
     memset(&si, 0, sizeof(si));
     si.cb=sizeof(si);
@@ -253,7 +256,7 @@ static int runCmd(LPWSTR cmdline, LPCWSTR dir, BOOL wait, BOOL minimized)
     }
     memset(&info, 0, sizeof(info));
 
-    if (!CreateProcessW(NULL, cmdline, NULL, NULL, FALSE, 0, NULL, dir, &si, &info))
+    if (!CreateProcessW(NULL, szCmdLineExp, NULL, NULL, FALSE, 0, NULL, dir, &si, &info))
     {
         printf("Failed to run command (%ld)\n", GetLastError());
 
@@ -261,7 +264,7 @@ static int runCmd(LPWSTR cmdline, LPCWSTR dir, BOOL wait, BOOL minimized)
     }
 
     printf("Successfully ran command\n"); //%s - Created process handle %p\n",
-               //wine_dbgstr_w(cmdline), info.hProcess);
+               //wine_dbgstr_w(szCmdLineExp), info.hProcess);
 
     if (wait)
     {   /* wait for the process to exit */