diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 13dbf66..949715a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ endif()
 set (BOOST_COMPONENTS
 	system
 	date_time
-	program_options
 	thread
-	filesystem)
+	filesystem
+)
 if (BUILD_TESTING)
 	list(APPEND BOOST_COMPONENTS unit_test_framework)
 endif (BUILD_TESTING)
diff --git a/include/dir_monitor/windows/basic_dir_monitor_service.hpp b/include/dir_monitor/windows/basic_dir_monitor_service.hpp
index 5cabdd6..d573302 100755
--- a/include/dir_monitor/windows/basic_dir_monitor_service.hpp
+++ b/include/dir_monitor/windows/basic_dir_monitor_service.hpp
@@ -33,27 +33,18 @@ namespace helper {
             }
         }
 
-        inline std::string to_utf8(WCHAR *filename, DWORD length)
+        inline std::wstring to_utf16(const std::string& filename)
         {
-            int size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, filename, length, NULL, 0, NULL, NULL);
+            static std::wstring empty;
+            if (filename.empty())
+                return empty;
 
-            helper::throw_system_error_if(!size, "boost::asio::basic_dir_monitor_service::to_utf8: WideCharToMultiByte failed");
+            int size = ::MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, filename.c_str(), -1, NULL, 0);
+            size = size > 0 ? size - 1 : 0;
+            std::vector<wchar_t> buffer(size);
+            helper::throw_system_error_if(::MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, filename.c_str(), -1, &buffer[0], size), "boost::asio::basic_dir_monitor_service::to_utf16: MultiByteToWideChar failed");
 
-            char buffer[1024];
-            std::unique_ptr<char[]> dynbuffer;
-            if (size > sizeof(buffer))
-            {
-                dynbuffer = std::make_unique<char[]>(size);
-                size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, filename, length, dynbuffer.get(), size, NULL, NULL);
-            }
-            else
-            {
-                size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, filename, length, buffer, sizeof(buffer), NULL, NULL);
-            }
-
-            helper::throw_system_error_if(!size, "boost::asio::basic_dir_monitor_service::to_utf8: WideCharToMultiByte failed");
-
-            return dynbuffer.get() ? std::string(dynbuffer.get(), size) : std::string(buffer, size);
+            return std::wstring(buffer.begin(), buffer.end());
         }
 }
 
@@ -64,7 +55,7 @@ class basic_dir_monitor_service
 public:
     struct completion_key
     {
-        completion_key(HANDLE h, const std::string &d, std::shared_ptr<DirMonitorImplementation> &i)
+        completion_key(HANDLE h, const std::wstring &d, std::shared_ptr<DirMonitorImplementation> &i)
             : handle(h),
             dirname(d),
             impl(i)
@@ -73,7 +64,7 @@ class basic_dir_monitor_service
         }
 
         HANDLE handle;
-        std::string dirname;
+        std::wstring dirname;
         std::weak_ptr<DirMonitorImplementation> impl;
         char buffer[1024];
         OVERLAPPED overlapped;
@@ -110,17 +101,18 @@ class basic_dir_monitor_service
 
     void add_directory(implementation_type &impl, const std::string &dirname)
     {
-        if (!boost::filesystem::is_directory(dirname))
+        std::wstring wdirname = helper::to_utf16(dirname);
+        if (!boost::filesystem::is_directory(wdirname))
             throw std::invalid_argument("boost::asio::basic_dir_monitor_service::add_directory: " + dirname + " is not a valid directory entry");
 
-        HANDLE handle = CreateFileA(dirname.c_str(), FILE_LIST_DIRECTORY, FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS | FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED, NULL);
+        HANDLE handle = CreateFileW(wdirname.c_str(), FILE_LIST_DIRECTORY, FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE, NULL, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS | FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED, NULL);
         helper::throw_system_error_if(INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE == handle, "boost::asio::basic_dir_monitor_service::add_directory: CreateFile failed");
 
         // a smart pointer is used to free allocated memory automatically in case of 
         // exceptions while handing over a completion key to the I/O completion port module,
         // the ownership has to be *released* at the end of scope so as not to free the memory
         // the OS kernel is using.
-        auto ck_holder = std::make_unique<completion_key>(handle, dirname, impl);
+        auto ck_holder = std::make_unique<completion_key>(handle, wdirname, impl);
         helper::throw_system_error_if(NULL == CreateIoCompletionPort(ck_holder->handle, iocp_, reinterpret_cast<ULONG_PTR>(ck_holder.get()), 0),
             "boost::asio::basic_dir_monitor_service::add_directory: CreateIoCompletionPort failed");
 
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index f2411cf..7e74af4 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ function(create_test NAME)
     cmake_parse_arguments(CT "NO_CTEST" "" "LIBS" ${ARGN})
     add_executable(test_${NAME} test_${NAME}.cpp directory.hpp check_paths.hpp)
     target_link_libraries(test_${NAME} ${CT_LIBS} ${Boost_LIBRARIES} dir_monitor)
-    target_compile_definitions(test_${NAME} PRIVATE ${BOOST_TEST_LINK_MODE} BOOST_ASIO_ENABLE_HANDLER_TRACKING)
+    target_compile_definitions(test_${NAME} PRIVATE ${BOOST_TEST_LINK_MODE} BOOST_ASIO_ENABLE_HANDLER_TRACKING BOOST_ASIO_STANDALONE BOOST_ALL_NO_LIB BOOST_ASIO_HAS_BOOST_BIND)
     install(TARGETS test_${NAME}
         RUNTIME DESTINATION tests/unittests)
     if (NOT CT_NO_CTEST)
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@ if (CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX)
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wall -g")
 endif()
 
+if (MSVC)
+    set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} /DUNICODE /D_UNICODE /D_WINDOWS /W4 /D_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS /MP /Z7")
+    add_definitions( -D_WIN32_WINNT=0x0600 ) # setting minimum supported target version to Vista
+endif()
+
 set(BOOST_TEST_LINK_MODE "BOOST_TEST_DYN_LINK")
 if (BOOST_TEST_STATIC_LINK)
     set(BOOST_TEST_LINK_MODE "BOOST_TEST_NO_LIB")
diff --git a/tests/directory.hpp b/tests/directory.hpp
index 9b2721a..ce7c967 100755
--- a/tests/directory.hpp
+++ b/tests/directory.hpp
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <boost/filesystem.hpp>
 #include <boost/filesystem/fstream.hpp>
 #include <boost/thread.hpp>
+#include <boost/locale.hpp>
 #include <fstream>
 
 #define TEST_DIR1 "A95A7AE9-D5F5-459a-AB8D-28649FB1F3F4"
@@ -20,7 +21,11 @@ class directory
 {
 public:
     directory(const char *name)
+#ifdef _WIN32
+        : full_path(boost::filesystem::initial_path() / boost::locale::conv::utf_to_utf<wchar_t>(name))
+#else
         : full_path(boost::filesystem::initial_path() / name)
+#endif
     {
         boost::filesystem::create_directory(full_path);
         BOOST_REQUIRE(boost::filesystem::is_directory(full_path));
@@ -48,11 +53,17 @@ class directory
     {
         boost::filesystem::current_path(full_path);
         BOOST_REQUIRE(boost::filesystem::equivalent(full_path, boost::filesystem::current_path()));
-        std::ofstream ofs(file);
-        BOOST_REQUIRE(boost::filesystem::exists(file));
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+        boost::filesystem::path file_path(boost::locale::conv::utf_to_utf<wchar_t>(file));
+#else
+        boost::filesystem::path file_path(file);
+#endif
+        boost::filesystem::ofstream ofs(file_path);
+        BOOST_REQUIRE(boost::filesystem::exists(file_path));
         boost::filesystem::current_path(boost::filesystem::initial_path());
         BOOST_REQUIRE(boost::filesystem::equivalent(boost::filesystem::current_path(), boost::filesystem::initial_path()));
-        return full_path / file;
+        return full_path / file_path;
     }
 
     boost::filesystem::path rename_file(const char *from, const char *to)
diff --git a/tests/test_sync.cpp b/tests/test_sync.cpp
index 85b4362..445ff1e 100755
--- a/tests/test_sync.cpp
+++ b/tests/test_sync.cpp
@@ -118,3 +118,20 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(dir_monitor_destruction)
 
     dir.create_file(TEST_FILE1);
 }
+
+BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(non_ascii_paths)
+{
+    char utf8DirName[]  = "\xe6\x97\xa5\xe6\x9c\xac\xe5\x9b\xbd"; // 日本国
+    char utf8FileName[] = "\xd8\xa7\xd9\x84\xd8\xb9\xd8\xb1\xd8\xa8\xd9\x8a\xd8\xa9"".txt"; // العربية.txt
+
+    directory dir(utf8DirName);
+
+    boost::asio::dir_monitor dm(io_service);
+    dm.add_directory(utf8DirName);
+
+    auto test_file = dir.create_file(utf8FileName);
+
+    boost::asio::dir_monitor_event ev = dm.monitor();
+    BOOST_CHECK_THE_SAME_PATHS_RELATIVE(ev.path, test_file);
+    BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL(ev.type, boost::asio::dir_monitor_event::added);
+}