diff --git a/config.py b/config.py
index 86fb2ea64..c8f02f134 100644
--- a/config.py
+++ b/config.py
@@ -5,8 +5,11 @@ import sys
 debug = False
 
 # You can adjust these paths to your needs
+
 # The main pyfa directory which contains run.py 
-pyfaPath = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), os.path.dirname(sys.modules['__main__'].__file__))
+# python 2.X uses ansi by default, so we need to convert the character encoding :(
+pyfaPath = os.path.join(unicode(os.getcwd(),  sys.getfilesystemencoding()),
+        unicode(os.path.dirname(sys.modules['__main__'].__file__), sys.getfilesystemencoding()))
 
 # Where we store the saved fits etc, default is the current users home directory
 savePath = os.path.expanduser(os.path.join("~", ".pyfa"))