diff --git a/django/core/management/utils.py b/django/core/management/utils.py
index 92d0964296bc5..895ed69959bc4 100644
--- a/django/core/management/utils.py
+++ b/django/core/management/utils.py
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ def popen_wrapper(args, os_err_exc_type=CommandError):
         p = Popen(args, shell=False, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE,
                 close_fds=os.name != 'nt', universal_newlines=True)
     except OSError as e:
+        strerror = force_text(e.strerror, DEFAULT_LOCALE_ENCODING,
+                              strings_only=True)
         six.reraise(os_err_exc_type, os_err_exc_type('Error executing %s: %s' %
-                    (args[0], e.strerror)), sys.exc_info()[2])
+                    (args[0], strerror)), sys.exc_info()[2])
     output, errors = p.communicate()
     return (
         output,