# Unexpected error: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xe3 in position 18: invalid continuation byte **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [May 4, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641 "2020-05-04T14:29:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jjw.roberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jjw.roberto](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jjw.roberto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/1 "2020-05-04T14:29:19Z")
Please fill out the fields below so we can help you better. Note: you must provide your domain name to get help. Domain names for issued certificates are all made public in Certificate Transparency logs (e.g. [https://crt.sh/?q=example.com](https://crt.sh/?q=example.com)), so withholding your domain name here does not increase secrecy, but only makes it harder for us to provide help. My domain is:jjw.com.br I ran this command: certbot renew It produced this output: ``` Saving debug log to /var/log/letsencrypt/letsencrypt.log - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Processing /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/integrador.jjw.com.br.conf - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cert not yet due for renewal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Processing /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/portal.jjw.com.br.conf - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cert not yet due for renewal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Processing /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/jjw.com.br.conf - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cert is due for renewal, auto-renewing... Plugins selected: Authenticator manual, Installer None Renewing an existing certificate Performing the following challenges: http-01 challenge for jjw.com.br http-01 challenge for www.jjw.com.br Cleaning up challenges Encountered exception during recovery: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/auth_handler.py", line 75, in handle_authorizations resp = self._solve_challenges(aauthzrs) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/auth_handler.py", line 132, in _solve_challenges resp = self.auth.perform(all_achalls) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/plugins/manual.py", line 169, in perform perform_achall(achall) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/plugins/manual.py", line 205, in _perform_achall_with_script _, out = hooks.execute(self.conf('auth-hook')) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/hooks.py", line 245, in execute out, err = cmd.communicate() File "/usr/lib/python3.4/subprocess.py", line 960, in communicate stdout, stderr = self._communicate(input, endtime, timeout) File "/usr/lib/python3.4/subprocess.py", line 1659, in _communicate self.stdout.encoding) File "/usr/lib/python3.4/subprocess.py", line 888, in _translate_newlines data = data.decode(encoding) UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xe3 in position 18: invalid continuation byte During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred: Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/error_handler.py", line 108, in _call_registered self.funcs[-1]() File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/auth_handler.py", line 316, in _cleanup_challenges self.auth.cleanup(achalls) File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/certbot/plugins/manual.py", line 242, in cleanup env = self.env.pop(achall) KeyError: KeyAuthorizationAnnotatedChallenge(challb=ChallengeBody(chall=HTTP01(token=b'\xad\x86rw-\xaaA\xf4\xb8X\x99\xea\x9c\x85e\xbb\xcf/\xd9\x83\x04\xa1\xc9\xb4v\x95,4\xe9Ls\x8d'), uri='https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/chall-v3/4352617991/FtJzdQ', status=Status(pending), error=None, validated=None, _url='https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/acme/chall-v3/4352617991/FtJzdQ'), domain='jjw.com.br', account_key=JWKRSA(key=)>)) Attempting to renew cert (jjw.com.br) from /etc/letsencrypt/renewal/jjw.com.br.conf produced an unexpected error: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xe3 in position 18: invalid continuation byte. Skipping. All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed: /etc/letsencrypt/live/jjw.com.br/fullchain.pem (failure) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The following certs are not due for renewal yet: /etc/letsencrypt/live/integrador.jjw.com.br/fullchain.pem expires on 2020-07-15 (skipped) /etc/letsencrypt/live/portal.jjw.com.br/fullchain.pem expires on 2020-06-08 (skipped) All renewal attempts failed. The following certs could not be renewed: /etc/letsencrypt/live/jjw.com.br/fullchain.pem (failure) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 renew failure(s), 0 parse failure(s) ``` My web server is (include version): The operating system my web server runs on is (include version): Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS My hosting provider, if applicable, is: I can login to a root shell on my machine (yes or no, or I don’t know): yes I’m using a control panel to manage my site (no, or provide the name and version of the control panel): no The version of my client is (e.g. output of `certbot --version` or `certbot-auto --version` if you’re using Certbot): 0.28.0 ---
**Author:** ![rg305](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/rg305/32/91314_2.png) [@rg305](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/rg305)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/2 "2020-05-04T15:15:54Z")
My first suggestion would be to update your O/S. Ubuntu 14.04.05 LTS reached end of standard support in April of last year. My second suggestion is to try to update the certbot client - but that might be the latest on that dist. My last suggestion (if those two can’t be done or don’t fix the problem) would be to use an alternate ACME client - like [acme.sh](https://github.com/acmesh-official/acme.sh) or [`certbot-auto`](https://certbot.eff.org/docs/install.html#certbot-auto) ---
**Author:** ![JuergenAuer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/juergenauer/32/26491_2.png) [@JuergenAuer](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/JuergenAuer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/3 "2020-05-04T15:20:23Z")
Hi @jjw.roberto > [@jjw.roberto](#): > > codec can't decode byte 0xe3 in position 18 0xe3 is 227, may be ã as unicode code point, may be another char (code page specific). May be you have that char in one of your config files, code or comment. Check that and remove / change that character. ---
**Author:** ![jjw.roberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jjw.roberto](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jjw.roberto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/4 "2020-05-04T16:24:37Z")
This is my config ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/7/a/7afd54d0438f60075afe40e02e2c333dd5dcfe15.png) ---
**Author:** ![jjw.roberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jjw.roberto](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jjw.roberto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 4:36pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/5 "2020-05-04T16:36:37Z")
I have noted that the response of the CERT\_TOKEN file are returning the Content-Type as text/plain charset=ISO-8859-1, but the real content of the file is UTF-8. Can this be the problem? ---
**Author:** ![mnordhoff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/mnordhoff/32/22583_2.png) [@mnordhoff](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/mnordhoff)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/6 "2020-05-04T16:46:54Z")
What exactly does the manual auth hook output? Is it valid UTF-8? What’s in position 18? ---
**Author:** ![schoen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/schoen/32/79_2.png) [@schoen](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/schoen)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/7 "2020-05-04T17:44:50Z")
Is it possible that you’ve edited one of your configuration files with an editor that included non-ASCII characters in them? Could you run `grep -P '[\x80-\xFF]'` on this file or other relevant files to see if it finds anything? ---
**Author:** ![jjw.roberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jjw.roberto](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jjw.roberto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/8 "2020-05-04T18:35:38Z")
The GREP command returns nothing. And this is the char 18 in the config file (the char “i”): ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/3/f/3fc1afcac0a4b5e7572a015ca3bfcd1d02eecae4.png) ---
**Author:** ![mnordhoff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/mnordhoff/32/22583_2.png) [@mnordhoff](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/mnordhoff)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/9 "2020-05-04T18:38:23Z")
What’s character 18 in the stderr or stdout output from your manual auth hook program? ---
**Author:** ![jjw.roberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jjw.roberto](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jjw.roberto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/10 "2020-05-04T20:02:14Z")
> [@mnordhoff](#): > > auth This is my "ftp-put.sh" script: ``` ftp -n << EOF open ftp03.tpa.com.br user USER PASSWORD pass bin cd web mkdir .well-known cd .well-known mkdir acme-challenge cd acme-challenge put $CERTBOT_TOKEN EOF ``` The char 18 is the "space" after the "open" command: ``` open ftp03.tpa.com.br ^ ``` ---
**Author:** ![JuergenAuer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/juergenauer/32/26491_2.png) [@JuergenAuer](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/JuergenAuer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/11 "2020-05-04T20:12:14Z")
There > [@jjw.roberto](#): > > open ftp03.tpa.com.br you have your problem - checking your domain - the portcheck part, there is an ftp check - [https://check-your-website.server-daten.de/?q=ftp03.tpa.com.br#portchecks](https://check-your-website.server-daten.de/?q=ftp03.tpa.com.br#portchecks) > 220-Bem-vindo a Pure-FTPd. 220-Voc? ? o usu?rio n?mero 5 de 150 permitidos 220-Hora local agora ? 17:09. Porta do servidor: 21. 220-Este ? um sistema privado - N?o ? permitido usu?rio an?nimo 220-Conex?es IPv6 tamb?m s?o bem-vindas neste servidor 220 Voc? ser? desconectado ap?s 15 minutos de inatividade. Looks like a missing code information. Checked manual (telnet): > 220-Bem-vindo a Pure-FTPd. > 220-VocÛ Ú o usußrio n·mero 4 de 150 permitidos > 220-Hora local agora Ú 17:04. Porta do servidor: 21. > 220-Este Ú um sistema privado - NÒo Ú permitido usußrio an¶nimo > 220-Conex§es IPv6 tambÚm sÒo bem-vindas neste servidor > 220 VocÛ serß desconectado ap¾s 15 minutos de inatividade. A lot of chars not in ASCII. PS: The output is important, not the script. ---
**Author:** ![jjw.roberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jjw.roberto](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jjw.roberto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/12 "2020-05-04T20:30:37Z")
> [@JuergenAuer](#): > > ot the script How can I solve it? This output has no importance for me.... ---
**Author:** ![jjw.roberto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jjw.roberto](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/jjw.roberto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/13 "2020-05-04T21:12:14Z")
> [@JuergenAuer](#): > > is an ftp check - Solved, I changed my script to this: ``` ftp -i -n << EOF > /dev/null open ftp03.tpa.com.br ... ``` ---
**Author:** ![schoen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/user_avatar/community.letsencrypt.org/schoen/32/79_2.png) [@schoen](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/schoen)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/14 "2020-05-04T21:49:36Z")
This is probably a bug in Certbot because it doesn’t seem inappropriate to have non-ASCII output from a hook script, but good job finding a working solution for your situation! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/letsencrypt/original/3X/c/a/ca6c06ea1ea201324bba7048c6841ce60236468d.png) [@system](https://community.letsencrypt.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://community.letsencrypt.org/t/unexpected-error-utf-8-codec-cant-decode-byte-0xe3-in-position-18-invalid-continuation-byte/121641/15 "2020-06-03T21:49:43Z")
Closed on June 3, 2020, 9:49pm UTC This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.