Index: src/checkin.c
==================================================================
--- src/checkin.c
+++ src/checkin.c
@@ -477,10 +477,15 @@
     zEditor = fossil_getenv("VISUAL");
   }
   if( zEditor==0 ){
     zEditor = fossil_getenv("EDITOR");
   }
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  if( zEditor==0 ){
+    zEditor = mprintf("%s\\notepad.exe", fossil_getenv("SystemRoot"));
+  }
+#endif
   if( zEditor==0 ){
     blob_append(pPrompt,
        "#\n"
        "# Since no default text editor is set using EDITOR or VISUAL\n"
        "# environment variables or the \"fossil set editor\" command,\n"
@@ -506,17 +511,14 @@
     blob_read_from_file(&reply, zFile);
   }else{
     char zIn[300];
     blob_zero(&reply);
     while( fgets(zIn, sizeof(zIn), stdin)!=0 ){
-      char *zUtf8 = fossil_mbcs_to_utf8(zIn);
-      if( zUtf8[0]=='.' && (zUtf8[1]==0 || zUtf8[1]=='\r' || zUtf8[1]=='\n') ){
-        fossil_mbcs_free(zUtf8);
+      if( zIn[0]=='.' && (zIn[1]==0 || zIn[1]=='\r' || zIn[1]=='\n') ){
         break;
       }
-      blob_append(&reply, zUtf8, -1);
-      fossil_mbcs_free(zUtf8);
+      blob_append(&reply, zIn, -1);
     }
   }
   blob_remove_cr(&reply);
   file_delete(zFile);
   free(zFile);
@@ -562,11 +564,19 @@
   const char *zBranch,
   int parent_rid,
   const char *zUserOvrd
 ){
   Blob prompt;
+#ifdef _WIN32
+  static const unsigned char bom[] = { 0xEF, 0xBB, 0xBF };
+  blob_init(&prompt, (const char *) bom, 3);
+  if( zInit && zInit[0]) {
+    blob_append(&prompt, zInit, -1);
+  }
+#else
   blob_init(&prompt, zInit, -1);
+#endif
   blob_append(&prompt,
     "\n"
     "# Enter comments on this check-in.  Lines beginning with # are ignored.\n"
     "# The check-in comment follows wiki formatting rules.\n"
     "#\n", -1
@@ -1192,10 +1202,61 @@
     prompt_user("empty check-in comment.  continue (y/N)? ", &ans);
     if( blob_str(&ans)[0]!='y' ){
       fossil_exit(1);
     }
   }else{
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    /* On windows, the check-in comment might come back from the editor
+    ** in various encodings.  Try to figure out the encoding and do the
+    ** right thing. */
+    if( zComment==0 ){
+      static const unsigned char bom[] = { 0xEF, 0xBB, 0xBF };
+      static const unsigned short ubom = 0xfeff;
+      static const unsigned short urbom = 0xfffe;
+      if( blob_size(&comment)>2 && memcmp(blob_buffer(&comment), bom, 3)==0 ) {
+    	struct Blob temp;
+        char *zUtf8 = blob_str(&comment) + 3;
+        blob_zero(&temp);
+        blob_append(&temp, zUtf8, -1);
+        fossil_mbcs_free(zUtf8);
+        blob_swap(&temp, &comment);
+        blob_reset(&temp);
+      }else if( blob_size(&comment)>1 && (blob_size(&comment)&1)==0
+          && memcmp(blob_buffer(&comment), &ubom, 2)==0 ) {
+        char *zUtf8;
+        /* Make sure the blob contains two terminating 0-bytes */
+        blob_append(&comment, "", 1);
+        zUtf8 = blob_str(&comment) + 2;
+        zUtf8 = fossil_unicode_to_utf8(zUtf8);
+        blob_zero(&comment);
+        blob_append(&comment, zUtf8, -1);
+        fossil_mbcs_free(zUtf8);
+      }else if( blob_size(&comment)>1 && (blob_size(&comment)&1)==0
+          && memcmp(blob_buffer(&comment), &urbom, 2)==0 ) {
+        char *zUtf8 = blob_buffer(&comment);
+        unsigned int i = blob_size(&comment);
+        while( i > 0 ){
+            /* swap bytes of unicode representation */
+            char temp = zUtf8[--i];
+            zUtf8[i] = zUtf8[i-1];
+            zUtf8[--i] = temp;
+        }
+        /* Make sure the blob contains two terminating 0-bytes */
+        blob_append(&comment, "", 1);
+        zUtf8 = blob_str(&comment) + 2;
+        zUtf8 = fossil_unicode_to_utf8(zUtf8);
+        blob_zero(&comment);
+        blob_append(&comment, zUtf8, -1);
+        fossil_mbcs_free(zUtf8);
+      }else{
+        char *zUtf8 = fossil_mbcs_to_utf8(blob_str(&comment));
+        blob_zero(&comment);
+        blob_append(&comment, zUtf8, -1);
+        fossil_mbcs_free(zUtf8);
+      }
+    }
+#endif /* _WIN32 */
     db_multi_exec("REPLACE INTO vvar VALUES('ci-comment',%B)", &comment);
     db_end_transaction(0);
     db_begin_transaction();
   }