diff --git a/etc/emacsclient-mail.desktop b/etc/emacsclient-mail.desktop
index 49c6f99f317..0a2420ddead 100644
--- a/etc/emacsclient-mail.desktop
+++ b/etc/emacsclient-mail.desktop
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 Categories=Network;Email;
 Comment=GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor - and more
 # We want to pass the following commands to the shell wrapper:
-# u=${1//\\/\\\\}; u=${u//\"/\\\"}; exec emacsclient --alternate-editor= --display="$DISPLAY" --eval "(message-mailto \"$u\")"
+# u=$(echo "$1" | sed 's/[\"]/\\&/g'); exec emacsclient --alternate-editor= --display="$DISPLAY" --eval "(message-mailto \"$u\")"
 # Special chars '"', '$', and '\' must be escaped as '\\"', '\\$', and '\\\\'.
-Exec=bash -c "u=\\${1//\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\}; u=\\${u//\\\\\\"/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"}; exec emacsclient --alternate-editor= --display=\\"\\$DISPLAY\\" --eval \\"(message-mailto \\\\\\"\\$u\\\\\\")\\"" bash %u
+Exec=sh -c "u=\\$(echo \\"\\$1\\" | sed 's/[\\\\\\"]/\\\\\\\\&/g'); exec emacsclient --alternate-editor= --display=\\"\\$DISPLAY\\" --eval \\"(message-mailto \\\\\\"\\$u\\\\\\")\\"" sh %u
 Icon=emacs
 Name=Emacs (Mail, Client)
 MimeType=x-scheme-handler/mailto;
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Actions=new-window;new-instance;
 
 [Desktop Action new-window]
 Name=New Window
-Exec=bash -c "u=\\${1//\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\}; u=\\${u//\\\\\\"/\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"}; exec emacsclient --alternate-editor= --create-frame --eval \\"(message-mailto \\\\\\"\\$u\\\\\\")\\"" bash %u
+Exec=sh -c "u=\\$(echo \\"\\$1\\" | sed 's/[\\\\\\"]/\\\\\\\\&/g'); exec emacsclient --alternate-editor= --create-frame --eval \\"(message-mailto \\\\\\"\\$u\\\\\\")\\"" sh %u
 
 [Desktop Action new-instance]
 Name=New Instance