diff --git a/deluge/common.py b/deluge/common.py
index 4efb1af2d..ca6ccda17 100644
--- a/deluge/common.py
+++ b/deluge/common.py
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ def get_default_config_dir(filename=None):
     if not filename:
         filename = ''
     try:
-        return os.path.join(save_config_path('deluge'), filename)
+        return decode_bytes(os.path.join(save_config_path('deluge'), filename))
     except OSError as ex:
         log.error('Unable to use default config directory, exiting... (%s)', ex)
         sys.exit(1)
diff --git a/deluge/configmanager.py b/deluge/configmanager.py
index 8d3f22185..b4c09b669 100644
--- a/deluge/configmanager.py
+++ b/deluge/configmanager.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def ConfigManager(config, defaults=None, file_version=1):  # NOQA: N802
 
 def set_config_dir(directory):
     """Sets the config directory, else just uses default"""
-    return _configmanager.set_config_dir(directory)
+    return _configmanager.set_config_dir(deluge.common.decode_bytes(directory))
 
 
 def get_config_dir(filename=None):