Outlook 2007 hyperlinks dropping UNC backslash

[ABOzIT]

This is a frustrating issue that I haven't been able to resolve.

I have an executable located on a server share that I'm wanting users to launch. I'm sending out a hyperlink in an Outlook 2007 e-mail but the first backslash in the UNC is being dropped and the link doesn't work when sent to the users. The following is an example:

\\server\share\runme.exe \\server\share\secondfile.mst

So, the executable should launch then use settings from the second file during setup.

The hyperlink gets changed to the following:

\\server\share\runme.exe \server\share\secondfile.mst

The second (after the space) double backslash gets truncated to a single backslash.

I have tried adding a "%20" instead of the space as follows:

\\server\share\runme.exe%20\\server\share\secondfile.mst

Still no joy. The interesting thing is that the hyperlink appears normal when viewed in the received e-mail but when you hover over the link it looks like this:

file://\\server\share\runme.exe \server\share\secondfile.mst

Anyone know how I can preserve the second double backslash??

Thanks!