diff --git a/common/platform_util_win.cc b/common/platform_util_win.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ffdd340c3c96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/platform_util_win.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2013 GitHub, Inc. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
+// found in the LICENSE file.
+
+#include "common/platform_util.h"
+
+#include <windows.h>
+#include <commdlg.h>
+#include <dwmapi.h>
+#include <shellapi.h>
+#include <shlobj.h>
+
+#include "base/bind.h"
+#include "base/bind_helpers.h"
+#include "base/files/file_path.h"
+#include "base/logging.h"
+#include "base/string_util.h"
+#include "base/utf_string_conversions.h"
+#include "base/win/registry.h"
+#include "base/win/scoped_co_mem.h"
+#include "base/win/scoped_comptr.h"
+#include "base/win/windows_version.h"
+#include "googleurl/src/gurl.h"
+#include "ui/base/win/shell.h"
+
+namespace {
+
+// Old ShellExecute crashes the process when the command for a given scheme
+// is empty. This function tells if it is.
+bool ValidateShellCommandForScheme(const std::string& scheme) {
+  base::win::RegKey key;
+  std::wstring registry_path = ASCIIToWide(scheme) +
+                               L"\\shell\\open\\command";
+  key.Open(HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, registry_path.c_str(), KEY_READ);
+  if (!key.Valid())
+    return false;
+  DWORD size = 0;
+  key.ReadValue(NULL, NULL, &size, NULL);
+  if (size <= 2)
+    return false;
+  return true;
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+
+namespace platform_util {
+
+void ShowItemInFolder(const base::FilePath& full_path) {
+  base::FilePath dir = full_path.DirName().AsEndingWithSeparator();
+  // ParseDisplayName will fail if the directory is "C:", it must be "C:\\".
+  if (dir.empty())
+    return;
+
+  typedef HRESULT (WINAPI *SHOpenFolderAndSelectItemsFuncPtr)(
+      PCIDLIST_ABSOLUTE pidl_Folder,
+      UINT cidl,
+      PCUITEMID_CHILD_ARRAY pidls,
+      DWORD flags);
+
+  static SHOpenFolderAndSelectItemsFuncPtr open_folder_and_select_itemsPtr =
+    NULL;
+  static bool initialize_open_folder_proc = true;
+  if (initialize_open_folder_proc) {
+    initialize_open_folder_proc = false;
+    // The SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems API is exposed by shell32 version 6
+    // and does not exist in Win2K. We attempt to retrieve this function export
+    // from shell32 and if it does not exist, we just invoke ShellExecute to
+    // open the folder thus losing the functionality to select the item in
+    // the process.
+    HMODULE shell32_base = GetModuleHandle(L"shell32.dll");
+    if (!shell32_base) {
+      NOTREACHED() << " " << __FUNCTION__ << "(): Can't open shell32.dll";
+      return;
+    }
+    open_folder_and_select_itemsPtr =
+        reinterpret_cast<SHOpenFolderAndSelectItemsFuncPtr>
+            (GetProcAddress(shell32_base, "SHOpenFolderAndSelectItems"));
+  }
+  if (!open_folder_and_select_itemsPtr) {
+    ShellExecute(NULL, L"open", dir.value().c_str(), NULL, NULL, SW_SHOW);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  base::win::ScopedComPtr<IShellFolder> desktop;
+  HRESULT hr = SHGetDesktopFolder(desktop.Receive());
+  if (FAILED(hr))
+    return;
+
+  base::win::ScopedCoMem<ITEMIDLIST> dir_item;
+  hr = desktop->ParseDisplayName(NULL, NULL,
+                                 const_cast<wchar_t *>(dir.value().c_str()),
+                                 NULL, &dir_item, NULL);
+  if (FAILED(hr))
+    return;
+
+  base::win::ScopedCoMem<ITEMIDLIST> file_item;
+  hr = desktop->ParseDisplayName(NULL, NULL,
+      const_cast<wchar_t *>(full_path.value().c_str()),
+      NULL, &file_item, NULL);
+  if (FAILED(hr))
+    return;
+
+  const ITEMIDLIST* highlight[] = { file_item };
+
+  hr = (*open_folder_and_select_itemsPtr)(dir_item, arraysize(highlight),
+                                          highlight, NULL);
+
+  if (FAILED(hr)) {
+    // On some systems, the above call mysteriously fails with "file not
+    // found" even though the file is there.  In these cases, ShellExecute()
+    // seems to work as a fallback (although it won't select the file).
+    if (hr == ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND) {
+      ShellExecute(NULL, L"open", dir.value().c_str(), NULL, NULL, SW_SHOW);
+    } else {
+      LPTSTR message = NULL;
+      DWORD message_length = FormatMessage(
+          FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM,
+          0, hr, 0, reinterpret_cast<LPTSTR>(&message), 0, NULL);
+      LOG(WARNING) << " " << __FUNCTION__
+                   << "(): Can't open full_path = \""
+                   << full_path.value() << "\""
+                   << " hr = " << hr
+                   << " " << reinterpret_cast<LPTSTR>(&message);
+      if (message)
+        LocalFree(message);
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+void OpenItem(const base::FilePath& full_path) {
+  ui::win::OpenItemViaShell(full_path);
+}
+
+void OpenExternal(const GURL& url) {
+  // Quote the input scheme to be sure that the command does not have
+  // parameters unexpected by the external program. This url should already
+  // have been escaped.
+  std::string escaped_url = url.spec();
+  escaped_url.insert(0, "\"");
+  escaped_url += "\"";
+
+  // According to Mozilla in uriloader/exthandler/win/nsOSHelperAppService.cpp:
+  // "Some versions of windows (Win2k before SP3, Win XP before SP1) crash in
+  // ShellExecute on long URLs (bug 161357 on bugzilla.mozilla.org). IE 5 and 6
+  // support URLS of 2083 chars in length, 2K is safe."
+  const size_t kMaxUrlLength = 2048;
+  if (escaped_url.length() > kMaxUrlLength) {
+    NOTREACHED();
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (base::win::GetVersion() < base::win::VERSION_WIN7) {
+    if (!ValidateShellCommandForScheme(url.scheme()))
+      return;
+  }
+
+  if (reinterpret_cast<ULONG_PTR>(ShellExecuteA(NULL, "open",
+                                                escaped_url.c_str(), NULL, NULL,
+                                                SW_SHOWNORMAL)) <= 32) {
+    // We fail to execute the call. We could display a message to the user.
+    // TODO(nsylvain): we should also add a dialog to warn on errors. See
+    // bug 1136923.
+    return;
+  }
+}
+
+}  // namespace platform_util