diff --git a/salt/fileclient.py b/salt/fileclient.py
index f07a53c033..dff5f14c55 100644
--- a/salt/fileclient.py
+++ b/salt/fileclient.py
@@ -228,6 +228,7 @@ class Client(object):
         # go through the list of all files finding ones that are in
         # the target directory and caching them
         for fn_ in self.file_list(saltenv):
+            fn_ = salt.utils.locales.sdecode(fn_)
             if fn_.strip() and fn_.startswith(path):
                 if salt.utils.check_include_exclude(
                         fn_, include_pat, exclude_pat):
diff --git a/salt/fileserver/__init__.py b/salt/fileserver/__init__.py
index 2a8ece202f..56d49a9140 100644
--- a/salt/fileserver/__init__.py
+++ b/salt/fileserver/__init__.py
@@ -551,7 +551,8 @@ class Fileserver(object):
 
         if 'path' not in load or 'saltenv' not in load:
             return ''
-        fnd = self.find_file(load['path'], load['saltenv'])
+        fnd = self.find_file(salt.utils.locales.sdecode(load['path']),
+                load['saltenv'])
         if not fnd.get('back'):
             return ''
         fstr = '{0}.file_hash'.format(fnd['back'])