Index: Doc/library/subprocess.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/subprocess.rst	(revision 77505)
+++ Doc/library/subprocess.rst	(working copy)
@@ -52,10 +52,12 @@
 
    On Windows: the :class:`Popen` class uses CreateProcess() to execute the child
    program, which operates on strings.  If *args* is a sequence, it will be
-   converted to a string using the :meth:`list2cmdline` method.  Please note that
-   not all MS Windows applications interpret the command line the same way:
-   :meth:`list2cmdline` is designed for applications using the same rules as the MS
-   C runtime.
+   converted to a string using the :meth:`list2cmdline` method.  If *args* is
+   a string, quotes are placed around the string, allowing *args* itself to
+   contain a command string which uses quotes.  Please note that not all MS
+   Windows applications interpret the command line the same way:
+   :meth:`list2cmdline` is designed for applications using the same rules as
+   the MS C runtime.
 
    *bufsize*, if given, has the same meaning as the corresponding argument to the
    built-in open() function: :const:`0` means unbuffered, :const:`1` means line
Index: Lib/subprocess.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/subprocess.py	(revision 77505)
+++ Lib/subprocess.py	(working copy)
@@ -828,7 +828,7 @@
                 startupinfo.dwFlags |= STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW
                 startupinfo.wShowWindow = SW_HIDE
                 comspec = os.environ.get("COMSPEC", "cmd.exe")
-                args = comspec + " /c " + args
+                args = comspec + " /c \"%s\"" % args
                 if (GetVersion() >= 0x80000000 or
                         os.path.basename(comspec).lower() == "command.com"):
                     # Win9x, or using command.com on NT. We need to