diff --git a/src/libmain.c b/src/libmain.c
index cbe2cf1bd9..7c9faa532d 100644
--- a/src/libmain.c
+++ b/src/libmain.c
@@ -145,6 +145,117 @@ static GOptionEntry entries[] =
 };
 
 
+/* Information about command line entries that can not be stored in GOptionEntry. */
+typedef struct
+{
+	gboolean persistent;  /* The option should be passed to "New Window" */
+}
+GeanyOptionEntryAux;
+
+
+static GeanyOptionEntryAux optentries_aux[] = {
+	{FALSE}, /* "column" */
+	{TRUE},  /* "config" */
+	{FALSE}, /* "ft-names */
+	{FALSE}, /* "generate-tags" */
+	{FALSE}, /* "no-preprocessing" */
+#ifdef HAVE_SOCKET
+	{FALSE}, /* "new-instance" */
+	{FALSE},  /* "socket-file" */
+	{FALSE}, /* "list-documents" */
+#endif
+	{FALSE}, /* "line" */
+	{TRUE},  /* "no-msgwin" */
+	{TRUE},  /* "no-ctags" */
+#ifdef HAVE_PLUGINS
+	{TRUE},  /* "no-plugins" */
+#endif
+	{FALSE}, /* "print-prefix" */
+	{FALSE}, /* "read-only" */
+	{FALSE}, /* "no-session" */
+#ifdef HAVE_VTE
+	{TRUE},  /* "no-terminal" */
+	{TRUE},  /* "vte-lib" */
+#endif
+	{TRUE},  /* "verbose" */
+	{FALSE}, /* "version" */
+	{FALSE}  /* "dummy" */
+};
+
+
+static gchar *option_entry_reverse_parse(const GOptionEntry *optentry)
+{
+	gchar *s = NULL;
+
+	switch (optentry->arg)
+	{
+		case G_OPTION_ARG_NONE :
+		{
+			gboolean val = *(gboolean *)optentry->arg_data;
+			gboolean reverse = (optentry->flags & G_OPTION_FLAG_REVERSE);
+
+			if ((val && !reverse) || (!val && reverse)) /* logical XOR */
+				s = g_strdup_printf("--%s", optentry->long_name);
+			break;
+		}
+
+		case G_OPTION_ARG_INT :
+			if (*(gint *)optentry->arg_data)
+				s = g_strdup_printf("--%s=%d", optentry->long_name, *(gint *)optentry->arg_data);
+			break;
+
+		case G_OPTION_ARG_STRING :
+		case G_OPTION_ARG_FILENAME :
+			if (*(gchar **)optentry->arg_data)
+			{
+				s = g_strdup_printf("--%s=%s", optentry->long_name, *(gchar **)optentry->arg_data);
+			#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
+				if (optentry->arg == G_OPTION_ARG_FILENAME)
+					break;  /* POSIX filenames are native */
+			#endif
+				/* On conversion failure, return NULL to skip the option, instead of
+				   a wrong UTF-8 "fallback" value. Besides, we currently have only
+				   "config" and "vte-lib" here, and they're almost surely ascii. */
+				SETPTR(s, g_locale_from_utf8(s, -1, NULL, NULL, NULL));
+			}
+			break;
+
+		default:
+			g_warning("%s: %s: %d\n", G_STRFUNC, "Unsupported option entry type", optentry->arg);
+	}
+
+	return s;
+}
+
+
+/* get the options that should be passed to a new window */
+gchar **main_get_persistent_argv(void)
+{
+	gchar **argv;
+	int i, argc;
+
+	for (i = 0, argc = 0; entries[i].long_name; i++)
+		if (optentries_aux[i].persistent)
+			argc++;
+
+	argv = g_new(gchar *, argc + 1);
+
+	for (i = 0, argc = 0; entries[i].long_name; i++)
+	{
+		if (optentries_aux[i].persistent)
+		{
+			char *option = option_entry_reverse_parse(&entries[i]);
+
+			if (option)
+				argv[argc++] = option;
+		}
+	}
+
+	argv[argc] = NULL;
+	return argv;
+}
+
+
 static void setup_window_position(void)
 {
 	/* interprets the saved window geometry */
@@ -225,7 +336,7 @@ static void apply_settings(void)
 static void main_init(void)
 {
 	/* add our icon path in case we aren't installed in the system prefix */
-	gtk_icon_theme_append_search_path(gtk_icon_theme_get_default(), utils_resource_dir(RESOURCE_DIR_ICON));
+	gtk_icon_theme_append_search_path(gtk_icon_theme_get_default(), utils_resource_path(RESOURCE_PATH_ICON_DIR));
 
 	/* inits */
 	ui_init_stock_items();
@@ -396,8 +507,8 @@ static void change_working_directory_on_windows(void)
 static void setup_paths(void)
 {
 	/* convert path names to locale encoding */
-	app->datadir = utils_get_locale_from_utf8(utils_resource_dir(RESOURCE_DIR_DATA));
-	app->docdir = utils_get_locale_from_utf8(utils_resource_dir(RESOURCE_DIR_DOC));
+	app->datadir = utils_get_locale_from_utf8(utils_resource_path(RESOURCE_PATH_DATA_DIR));
+	app->docdir = utils_get_locale_from_utf8(utils_resource_path(RESOURCE_PATH_DOC_DIR));
 }
 
 
@@ -454,7 +565,7 @@ void main_locale_init(const gchar *locale_dir, const gchar *package)
 #endif
 
 #ifdef G_OS_WIN32
-	locale_dir = utils_resource_dir(RESOURCE_DIR_LOCALE);
+	locale_dir = utils_resource_path(RESOURCE_PATH_LOCALE_DIR);
 #endif
 	(void) bindtextdomain(package, locale_dir);
 	(void) bind_textdomain_codeset(package, "UTF-8");
@@ -569,7 +680,7 @@ static void parse_command_line_options(gint *argc, gchar ***argv)
 	if (alternate_config)
 	{
 		geany_debug("alternate config: %s", alternate_config);
-		app->configdir = alternate_config;
+		app->configdir = g_strdup(alternate_config);
 	}
 	else
 	{
@@ -1033,7 +1144,7 @@ gint main_lib(gint argc, gchar **argv)
 	setup_gtk2_styles();
 #endif
 #ifdef ENABLE_NLS
-	main_locale_init(utils_resource_dir(RESOURCE_DIR_LOCALE), GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
+	main_locale_init(utils_resource_path(RESOURCE_PATH_LOCALE_DIR), GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
 #endif
 	parse_command_line_options(&argc, &argv);
 
diff --git a/src/main.h b/src/main.h
index f2babac344..f806d2efc2 100644
--- a/src/main.h
+++ b/src/main.h
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ GeanyStatus;
 extern GeanyStatus main_status;
 
 
+gchar **main_get_persistent_argv(void);
+
 const gchar *main_get_version_string(void);
 
 gchar *main_get_argv_filename(const gchar *filename);
diff --git a/src/plugins.c b/src/plugins.c
index bcc42e9b90..ebe29b49e3 100644
--- a/src/plugins.c
+++ b/src/plugins.c
@@ -883,7 +883,7 @@ load_plugins_from_path(const gchar *path)
 
 static gchar *get_plugin_path(void)
 {
-	return g_strdup(utils_resource_dir(RESOURCE_DIR_PLUGIN));
+	return g_strdup(utils_resource_path(RESOURCE_PATH_PLUGIN_DIR));
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/utils.c b/src/utils.c
index b6ad701345..2273e754eb 100644
--- a/src/utils.c
+++ b/src/utils.c
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@
 #include "app.h"
 #include "dialogs.h"
 #include "document.h"
+#include "keyfile.h"
+#include "main.h"
 #include "prefs.h"
 #include "prefix.h"
 #include "sciwrappers.h"
@@ -2108,83 +2110,96 @@ static gboolean is_osx_bundle(void)
 }
 
 
-const gchar *utils_resource_dir(GeanyResourceDirType type)
+const gchar *utils_resource_path(GeanyResourcePathType type)
 {
-	static const gchar *resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_COUNT] = {NULL};
+	static const gchar *respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_COUNT] = {NULL};
 
-	if (!resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_DATA])
+	if (!respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_DATA_DIR])
 	{
 #ifdef G_OS_WIN32
 		gchar *prefix = win32_get_installation_dir();
 
-		resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_DATA] = g_build_filename(prefix, "data", NULL);
-		resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_ICON] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "icons", NULL);
-		resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_DOC] = g_build_filename(prefix, "doc", NULL);
-		resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_LOCALE] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "locale", NULL);
-		resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_PLUGIN] = g_build_filename(prefix, "lib", "geany", NULL);
+		respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_DATA_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "data", NULL);
+		respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_ICON_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "icons", NULL);
+		respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_DOC_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "doc", NULL);
+		respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_LOCALE_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "locale", NULL);
+		respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_PLUGIN_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "lib", "geany", NULL);
+		respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE] = g_build_filename(prefix, "bin", "geany", NULL);
 		g_free(prefix);
+		if (!g_file_test(respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE], G_FILE_TEST_IS_EXECUTABLE))
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE] = "geany";
 #else
 		if (is_osx_bundle())
 		{
 # ifdef MAC_INTEGRATION
 			gchar *prefix = gtkosx_application_get_resource_path();
 			
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_DATA] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "geany", NULL);
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_ICON] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "icons", NULL);
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_DOC] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "doc", "geany", "html", NULL);
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_LOCALE] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "locale", NULL);
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_PLUGIN] = g_build_filename(prefix, "lib", "geany", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_DATA_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "geany", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_ICON_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "icons", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_DOC_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "doc", "geany", "html", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_LOCALE_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "share", "locale", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_PLUGIN_DIR] = g_build_filename(prefix, "lib", "geany", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE] = gtkosx_application_get_executable_path();
 			g_free(prefix);
+			if (!respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE])
+				respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE] = "geany";
 # endif
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_DATA] = g_build_filename(GEANY_DATADIR, "geany", NULL);
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_ICON] = g_build_filename(GEANY_DATADIR, "icons", NULL);
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_DOC] = g_build_filename(GEANY_DOCDIR, "html", NULL);
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_LOCALE] = g_build_filename(GEANY_LOCALEDIR, NULL);
-			resdirs[RESOURCE_DIR_PLUGIN] = g_build_filename(GEANY_LIBDIR, "geany", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_DATA_DIR] = g_build_filename(GEANY_DATADIR, "geany", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_ICON_DIR] = g_build_filename(GEANY_DATADIR, "icons", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_DOC_DIR] = g_build_filename(GEANY_DOCDIR, "html", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_LOCALE_DIR] = g_build_filename(GEANY_LOCALEDIR, NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_PLUGIN_DIR] = g_build_filename(GEANY_LIBDIR, "geany", NULL);
+			respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE] = g_build_filename(GEANY_PREFIX, "bin", "geany", NULL);
+			if (!g_file_test(respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE], G_FILE_TEST_IS_EXECUTABLE))
+				respaths[RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE] = "geany";
 		}
 #endif
 	}
 
-	return resdirs[type];
+	return respaths[type];
 }
 
 
 void utils_start_new_geany_instance(const gchar *doc_path)
 {
-	const gchar *command = is_osx_bundle() ? "open" : "geany";
-	gchar *exec_path = g_find_program_in_path(command);
+	gchar **pers_argv = main_get_persistent_argv();
+	gint pers_argc;
+	gchar **argv;
+	int argc;
+	GError *error = NULL;
 
-	if (exec_path)
-	{
-		GError *err = NULL;
-		const gchar *argv[6]; // max args + 1
-		gint argc = 0;
+	/* count only, the for body is empty */
+	for (pers_argc = 0; pers_argv[pers_argc]; pers_argc++);
 
-		argv[argc++] = exec_path;
-		if (is_osx_bundle())
-		{
-			argv[argc++] = "-n";
-			argv[argc++] = "-a";
-			argv[argc++] = "Geany";
-			argv[argc++] = doc_path;
-		}
-		else
-		{
-			argv[argc++] = "-i";
-			argv[argc++] = doc_path;
-		}
-		argv[argc] = NULL;
+	argc = pers_argc + 3;  /* exectuable, -i, <persistent>, doc_path */
+	argv = g_new(gchar *, argc + 1);
 
-		if (!utils_spawn_async(NULL, (gchar**) argv, NULL, 0, NULL, NULL, NULL, &err))
-		{
-			g_printerr("Unable to open new window: %s", err->message);
-			g_error_free(err);
-		}
-		g_free(exec_path);
+	argv[0] = g_strdup(utils_resource_path(RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE));
+	argv[1] = g_strdup("-i");
+
+	memcpy(argv + 2, pers_argv, pers_argc * sizeof(char *));
+	g_free(pers_argv);  /* elements are freed via argv */
+
+#ifdef G_OS_UNIX
+	argv[argc - 1] = g_strdup(doc_path);  /* POSIX filenames are native */
+#else
+	/* On conversion failure, pass the NULL to open an empty window, instead
+	   of replacing it with a definitely wrong UTF-8 "fallback" file name. */
+	argv[argc - 1] = doc_path ? g_locale_from_utf8(doc_path, -1, NULL, NULL, NULL) : NULL;
+#endif
+	argv[argc] = NULL;
+
+	/* Ensure the configuration is saved to disk before launching the new instance */
+	configuration_save();
+
+	if (!spawn_async(NULL, NULL, argv, NULL, NULL, &error))
+	{
+		ui_set_statusbar(TRUE, _("Unable to open new Geany window: %s"), error->message);
+		g_error_free(error);
 	}
-	else
-		g_printerr("Unable to find 'geany'");
+
+	g_strfreev(argv);
 }
diff --git a/src/utils.h b/src/utils.h
index 85d830036c..980b76d9c0 100644
--- a/src/utils.h
+++ b/src/utils.h
@@ -202,14 +202,15 @@ const gchar *utils_find_open_xml_tag_pos(const gchar sel[], gint size);
 
 typedef enum
 {
-	RESOURCE_DIR_DATA,
-	RESOURCE_DIR_ICON,
-	RESOURCE_DIR_DOC,
-	RESOURCE_DIR_LOCALE,
-	RESOURCE_DIR_PLUGIN,
+	RESOURCE_PATH_DATA_DIR,
+	RESOURCE_PATH_ICON_DIR,
+	RESOURCE_PATH_DOC_DIR,
+	RESOURCE_PATH_LOCALE_DIR,
+	RESOURCE_PATH_PLUGIN_DIR,
+	RESOURCE_PATH_EXECUTABLE,
 
-	RESOURCE_DIR_COUNT
-} GeanyResourceDirType;
+	RESOURCE_PATH_COUNT
+} GeanyResourcePathType;
 
 
 gint utils_get_line_endings(const gchar* buffer, gsize size);
@@ -308,7 +309,7 @@ gchar *utils_parse_and_format_build_date(const gchar *input);
 
 gchar *utils_get_user_config_dir(void);
 
-const gchar *utils_resource_dir(GeanyResourceDirType type);
+const gchar *utils_resource_path(GeanyResourcePathType type);
 
 void utils_start_new_geany_instance(const gchar *doc_path);