IE9 URL resolving problem when trying to send a filename as a parameter

I have to send a path of the xml configuration file to my swf using http params. URL looks as something like this:

lw.local/m/swf/engine.swf?width=900&height=600&xml=/m/xml/stage.xml

In Opera, Firefox, Chrome and Safari it works fine. However, IE8 and IE9 open a stage.xml instead of the engine.swf.

I changed path to

lw.local/m/swf/engine.swf?xml=/m/xml/stage.xml&width=900&height=600,

so as you can see there is no extension at the end of the url. IE8 now works fine and opens the swf file as expected, but IE9 still opens the xml. I can make a workaround, so there will be no file paths within the url, but it looks like it is a IE problem. I looked through the RFC1738 already and didn't find there anything about file p开发者_JAVA百科ath prohibition in the HTTP Search section.

My questions are:

Is it a IE bug, or I use http params incorrectly?

If it is a bug is there any chance that Microsoft will fix it?

Is the connect.microsoft.com the fastest way to report a bug to them?

UPDATE: IE9 32bit works fine, bug exists only in IE9 64bit

What about to URLencode everything after ?