diff --git a/platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/ide/BrowserUtil.java b/platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/ide/BrowserUtil.java
index bebc64dc5e3a..c19643e00dbf 100644
--- a/platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/ide/BrowserUtil.java
+++ b/platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/ide/BrowserUtil.java
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URI;
-import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.HashSet;
@@ -102,15 +101,8 @@ public class BrowserUtil {
     browse(VfsUtil.toUri(file));
   }
 
-  public static boolean browse(@NotNull File file) {
-    try {
-      browse(new URI(StandardFileSystems.FILE_PROTOCOL, "", file.getAbsolutePath(), null));
-      return true;
-    }
-    catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-      LOG.debug(e);
-      return false;
-    }
+  public static void browse(@NotNull File file) {
+    browse(VfsUtil.toUri(file));
   }
 
   public static void browse(@NotNull URL url) {
@@ -158,10 +150,8 @@ public class BrowserUtil {
         }
       }
 
-      if (browse(file)) {
-        return;
-      }
-      uri = null;
+      browse(file);
+      return;
     }
 
     if (uri == null) {
diff --git a/platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/VfsUtil.java b/platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/VfsUtil.java
index a2ca45ee9acb..85509d8cfcc6 100644
--- a/platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/VfsUtil.java
+++ b/platform/platform-api/src/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/VfsUtil.java
@@ -498,7 +498,7 @@ public class VfsUtil extends VfsUtilCore {
   }
 
   /**
-   * @return correct URI, must be used only for external communication
+   * @return correct URL, must be used only for external communication
    */
   @NotNull
   public static URI toUri(@NotNull VirtualFile file) {
@@ -517,6 +517,23 @@ public class VfsUtil extends VfsUtilCore {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @return correct URL, must be used only for external communication
+   */
+  @NotNull
+  public static URI toUri(@NotNull File file) {
+    String path = file.toURI().getPath();
+    try {
+      if (SystemInfo.isWindows && path.charAt(0) != '/') {
+        path = '/' + path;
+      }
+      return new URI(StandardFileSystems.FILE_PROTOCOL, "", path, null, null);
+    }
+    catch (URISyntaxException e) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * uri - may be incorrect (escaping or missed "/" before disk name under windows), may be not fully encoded,
    * may contains query and fragment
diff --git a/platform/platform-tests/testSrc/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/VfsUtilTest.java b/platform/platform-tests/testSrc/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/VfsUtilTest.java
index ace33665106e..5797dbe4679b 100644
--- a/platform/platform-tests/testSrc/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/VfsUtilTest.java
+++ b/platform/platform-tests/testSrc/com/intellij/openapi/vfs/VfsUtilTest.java
@@ -297,6 +297,9 @@ public class VfsUtilTest extends PlatformLangTestCase {
   }
 
   public void testToUri() {
+    assertEquals("file:///asd", VfsUtil.toUri(new File("/asd")).toASCIIString());
+    assertEquals("file:///asd%20/sd", VfsUtil.toUri(new File("/asd /sd")).toASCIIString());
+
     URI uri = VfsUtil.toUri("file:///asd");
     assertNotNull(uri);
     assertEquals("file", uri.getScheme());