diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/filenames.py b/src/calibre/utils/filenames.py
index 85d39a01e1..1d2417e6d9 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/filenames.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/filenames.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from math import ceil
 
 from calibre import force_unicode, isbytestring, prints, sanitize_file_name
 from calibre.constants import (
-    filesystem_encoding, iswindows, plugins, preferred_encoding, isosx
+    filesystem_encoding, iswindows, plugins, preferred_encoding, isosx, ispy3
 )
 from calibre.utils.localization import get_udc
 from polyglot.builtins import iteritems, itervalues, unicode_type, range
@@ -545,7 +545,7 @@ def remove_dir_if_empty(path, ignore_metadata_caches=False):
         raise
 
 
-if iswindows:
+if iswindows and not ispy3:
     # Python's expanduser is broken for non-ASCII usernames
     def expanduser(path):
         if isinstance(path, bytes):
@@ -555,8 +555,7 @@ if iswindows:
         i, n = 1, len(path)
         while i < n and path[i] not in '/\\':
             i += 1
-        from win32com.shell import shell, shellcon
-        userhome = shell.SHGetFolderPath(0, shellcon.CSIDL_PROFILE, None, 0)
+        userhome = plugins['winutil'][0].special_folder_path(plugins['winutil'][0].CSIDL_PROFILE)
         return userhome + path[i:]
 else:
     expanduser = os.path.expanduser
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/windows/wintest.py b/src/calibre/utils/windows/wintest.py
index 51980b8557..611ac7f304 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/windows/wintest.py
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/windows/wintest.py
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ class TestWinutil(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn('notepad.exe', self.winutil.file_association('.txt'))
         self.assertIsNone(self.winutil.file_association('.mkjsfks'))
 
+    def test_special_folder_path(self):
+        self.assertEqual(os.path.expanduser('~'), self.winutil.special_folder_path(self.winutil.CSIDL_PROFILE))
+
 
 def find_tests():
     return unittest.defaultTestLoader.loadTestsFromTestCase(TestWinutil)
diff --git a/src/calibre/utils/windows/winutilpp.cpp b/src/calibre/utils/windows/winutilpp.cpp
index 6050c5b488..23cd6a7c0b 100644
--- a/src/calibre/utils/windows/winutilpp.cpp
+++ b/src/calibre/utils/windows/winutilpp.cpp
@@ -71,3 +71,5 @@ file_association(PyObject *self, PyObject *args) {
 	if (!SUCCEEDED(hr)) Py_RETURN_NONE;
 	return Py_BuildValue("u#", buf, (int)sz);
 }
+
+}