diff --git a/amiga/launch.c b/amiga/launch.c
index 84d362fa1..1405d6a71 100755
--- a/amiga/launch.c
+++ b/amiga/launch.c
@@ -122,25 +122,31 @@ void ami_openurl_close(const char *scheme)
 	ami_openurl_free_list(&ami_unsupportedprotocols);
 }
 
-void gui_launch_url(const char *url)
+nserror gui_launch_url(struct nsurl *url)
 {
 	APTR procwin = SetProcWindow((APTR)-1L);
 	char *launchurl = NULL;
 
-	if(ami_openurl_check_list(&ami_unsupportedprotocols, url) == FALSE)
+	if(ami_openurl_check_list(&ami_unsupportedprotocols, nsurl_access(url)) == FALSE)
 	{
 		if(IOpenURL)
 		{
 			URL_OpenA((STRPTR)url,NULL);
 		} else {
-			if(launchurl = ASPrintf("URL:%s",url)) {
+			if(launchurl = ASPrintf("URL:%s", nsurl_access(url))) {
 				BPTR fptr = Open(launchurl,MODE_OLDFILE);
-				if(fptr) Close(fptr);
-					else ami_openurl_add_protocol(url);
+				if(fptr)
+				{
+					Close(fptr);
+				} else {
+					ami_openurl_add_protocol(nsurl_access(url));
+				}
 				FreeVec(launchurl);
 			}
 		}
 	}
 
-	SetProcWindow(procwin);		
+	SetProcWindow(procwin);
+
+	return NSERROR_OK;
 }
diff --git a/amiga/launch.h b/amiga/launch.h
index 7baa6ca27..cab638b1d 100755
--- a/amiga/launch.h
+++ b/amiga/launch.h
@@ -26,6 +26,6 @@
 void ami_openurl_open(void);
 void ami_openurl_close(void);
 
-void gui_launch_url(const char *url);
+nserror gui_launch_url(struct nsurl *url);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/beos/gui.cpp b/beos/gui.cpp
index d21dbe512..db4374512 100644
--- a/beos/gui.cpp
+++ b/beos/gui.cpp
@@ -896,12 +896,13 @@ void nsbeos_gui_view_source(struct hlcache_handle *content)
  * Broadcast an URL that we can't handle.
  */
 
-static void gui_launch_url(const char *url)
+static nserror gui_launch_url(struct nsurl *url)
 {
 	status_t status;
 	// try to open it as an URI
 	BString mimeType = "application/x-vnd.Be.URL.";
-	BString arg(url);
+	BString arg(nsurl_access(url));
+
 	mimeType.Append(arg, arg.FindFirst(":"));
 
 	// special case, text/x-email is used traditionally
@@ -913,11 +914,12 @@ static void gui_launch_url(const char *url)
 	// we just check if it's registered
 	// if not there is likely no supporting app anyway
 	if (!BMimeType::IsValid(mimeType.String()))
-		return;
-	char *args[2] = { (char *)url, NULL };
+		return NSERROR_NO_FETCH_HANDLER;
+	char *args[2] = { (char *)nsurl_access(url), NULL };
 	status = be_roster->Launch(mimeType.String(), 1, args);
 	if (status < B_OK)
 		warn_user("Cannot launch url", strerror(status));
+        return NSERROR_OK;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/cocoa/gui.m b/cocoa/gui.m
index 9ba614475..1cb19a756 100644
--- a/cocoa/gui.m
+++ b/cocoa/gui.m
@@ -253,9 +253,10 @@ static void gui_create_form_select_menu(struct browser_window *bw,
 	[menu release];
 }
 
-static void gui_launch_url(const char *url)
+static nserror gui_launch_url(nsurl *url)
 {
-	[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: [NSString stringWithUTF8String: url]]];
+	[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] openURL: [NSURL URLWithString: [NSString stringWithUTF8String: nsurl_access(url)]]];
+        return NSERROR_OK;
 }
 
 struct ssl_cert_info;
diff --git a/desktop/browser.c b/desktop/browser.c
index 01f57178d..6e3ed9718 100644
--- a/desktop/browser.c
+++ b/desktop/browser.c
@@ -839,7 +839,7 @@ browser_window_download(struct browser_window *bw,
 					NULL, NULL, &l);
 	if (error == NSERROR_NO_FETCH_HANDLER) {
 		/* no internal handler for this type, call out to frontend */
-		guit->browser->launch_url(nsurl_access(url));
+		error = guit->browser->launch_url(url);
 	} else if (error != NSERROR_OK) {
 		LOG(("Failed to fetch download: %d", error));
 	} else {
@@ -1932,7 +1932,7 @@ nserror browser_window_navigate(struct browser_window *bw,
 
 	case NSERROR_NO_FETCH_HANDLER: /* no handler for this type */
 		/** @todo does this always try and download even unverifiable content? */
-		guit->browser->launch_url(nsurl_access(url));
+		error = guit->browser->launch_url(url);
 		break;
 
 	default: /* report error to user */
diff --git a/desktop/gui.h b/desktop/gui.h
index bc7553c16..dc964db81 100644
--- a/desktop/gui.h
+++ b/desktop/gui.h
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@ struct gui_browser_table {
 	/**
 	 * core has no fetcher for url
 	 */
-	void (*launch_url)(const char *url);
+	nserror (*launch_url)(struct nsurl *url);
 
 	/**
 	 * create a form select menu
diff --git a/desktop/gui_factory.c b/desktop/gui_factory.c
index a60766647..b3a27fea2 100644
--- a/desktop/gui_factory.c
+++ b/desktop/gui_factory.c
@@ -515,8 +515,9 @@ static void gui_default_quit(void)
 }
 
 
-static void gui_default_launch_url(const char *url)
+static nserror gui_default_launch_url(struct nsurl *url)
 {
+	return NSERROR_NO_FETCH_HANDLER;
 }
 
 static void gui_default_create_form_select_menu(struct browser_window *bw,
diff --git a/gtk/gui.c b/gtk/gui.c
index 3f0d6119f..6933c2e1e 100644
--- a/gtk/gui.c
+++ b/gtk/gui.c
@@ -617,19 +617,21 @@ static void gui_create_form_select_menu(struct browser_window *bw,
 
 }
 
-static void gui_launch_url(const char *url)
+static nserror gui_launch_url(struct nsurl *url)
 {
 	gboolean ok;
 	GError *error = NULL;
 
-	ok = nsgtk_show_uri(NULL, url, GDK_CURRENT_TIME, &error);
-	if (ok == TRUE)
-		return;
+	ok = nsgtk_show_uri(NULL, nsurl_access(url), GDK_CURRENT_TIME, &error);
+	if (ok == TRUE) {
+		return NSERROR_OK;
+	}
 
 	if (error) {
 		warn_user(messages_get("URIOpenError"), error->message);
 		g_error_free(error);
 	}
+	return NSERROR_NO_FETCH_HANDLER;
 }
 
 void warn_user(const char *warning, const char *detail)
diff --git a/monkey/main.c b/monkey/main.c
index 10ec1baf8..08af69405 100644
--- a/monkey/main.c
+++ b/monkey/main.c
@@ -67,10 +67,10 @@ static void monkey_quit(void)
   monkey_fetch_filetype_fin();
 }
 
-static void
-gui_launch_url(const char *url)
+static nserror gui_launch_url(struct nsurl *url)
 {
-  fprintf(stdout, "GENERIC LAUNCH URL %s\n", url);
+  fprintf(stdout, "GENERIC LAUNCH URL %s\n", nsurl_access(url));
+  return NSERROR_OK;
 }
 
 static void quit_handler(int argc, char **argv)
diff --git a/riscos/gui.c b/riscos/gui.c
index 82a1a74a1..f3d1f323a 100644
--- a/riscos/gui.c
+++ b/riscos/gui.c
@@ -2214,10 +2214,11 @@ void ro_gui_dump_browser_window(struct browser_window *bw)
  * Broadcast an URL that we can't handle.
  */
 
-static void gui_launch_url(const char *url)
+static nserror gui_launch_url(struct nsurl *url)
 {
-	/* Try ant broadcast first */
-	ro_url_broadcast(url);
+	/* Try ant broadcast */
+	ro_url_broadcast(nsurl_access(url));
+	return NSERROR_OK;
 }