diff --git a/v2/test/parsing/vault/test_vault.py b/v2/test/parsing/vault/test_vault.py
index d24573c729..5609596404 100644
--- a/v2/test/parsing/vault/test_vault.py
+++ b/v2/test/parsing/vault/test_vault.py
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ import os
 import shutil
 import time
 import tempfile
+import six
+
 from binascii import unhexlify
 from binascii import hexlify
 from nose.plugins.skip import SkipTest
@@ -63,13 +65,13 @@ class TestVaultLib(unittest.TestCase):
                  'decrypt',
                  '_add_header',
                  '_split_header',]
-        for slot in slots:         
+        for slot in slots:
             assert hasattr(v, slot), "VaultLib is missing the %s method" % slot
 
     def test_is_encrypted(self):
         v = VaultLib(None)
         assert not v.is_encrypted("foobar"), "encryption check on plaintext failed"
-        data = "$ANSIBLE_VAULT;9.9;TEST\n%s" % hexlify("ansible")
+        data = "$ANSIBLE_VAULT;9.9;TEST\n%s" % hexlify(six.b("ansible"))
         assert v.is_encrypted(data), "encryption check on headered text failed"
 
     def test_add_header(self):
@@ -82,15 +84,15 @@ class TestVaultLib(unittest.TestCase):
         header = lines[0]
         assert header.endswith(';TEST'), "header does end with cipher name"
         header_parts = header.split(';')
-        assert len(header_parts) == 3, "header has the wrong number of parts"        
+        assert len(header_parts) == 3, "header has the wrong number of parts"
         assert header_parts[0] == '$ANSIBLE_VAULT', "header does not start with $ANSIBLE_VAULT"
         assert header_parts[1] == v.version, "header version is incorrect"
         assert header_parts[2] == 'TEST', "header does end with cipher name"
 
     def test_split_header(self):
         v = VaultLib('ansible')
-        data = "$ANSIBLE_VAULT;9.9;TEST\nansible" 
-        rdata = v._split_header(data)        
+        data = "$ANSIBLE_VAULT;9.9;TEST\nansible"
+        rdata = v._split_header(data)
         lines = rdata.split('\n')
         assert lines[0] == "ansible"
         assert v.cipher_name == 'TEST', "cipher name was not set"
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ class TestVaultLib(unittest.TestCase):
         enc_data = v.encrypt("foobar")
         dec_data = v.decrypt(enc_data)
         assert enc_data != "foobar", "encryption failed"
-        assert dec_data == "foobar", "decryption failed"           
+        assert dec_data == "foobar", "decryption failed"
 
     def test_encrypt_decrypt_aes256(self):
         if not HAS_AES or not HAS_COUNTER or not HAS_PBKDF2:
@@ -114,20 +116,20 @@ class TestVaultLib(unittest.TestCase):
         enc_data = v.encrypt("foobar")
         dec_data = v.decrypt(enc_data)
         assert enc_data != "foobar", "encryption failed"
-        assert dec_data == "foobar", "decryption failed"           
+        assert dec_data == "foobar", "decryption failed"
 
     def test_encrypt_encrypted(self):
         if not HAS_AES or not HAS_COUNTER or not HAS_PBKDF2:
             raise SkipTest
         v = VaultLib('ansible')
         v.cipher_name = 'AES'
-        data = "$ANSIBLE_VAULT;9.9;TEST\n%s" % hexlify("ansible")
+        data = "$ANSIBLE_VAULT;9.9;TEST\n%s" % hexlify(six.b("ansible"))
         error_hit = False
         try:
             enc_data = v.encrypt(data)
         except errors.AnsibleError as e:
             error_hit = True
-        assert error_hit, "No error was thrown when trying to encrypt data with a header"    
+        assert error_hit, "No error was thrown when trying to encrypt data with a header"
 
     def test_decrypt_decrypted(self):
         if not HAS_AES or not HAS_COUNTER or not HAS_PBKDF2:
@@ -139,7 +141,7 @@ class TestVaultLib(unittest.TestCase):
             dec_data = v.decrypt(data)
         except errors.AnsibleError as e:
             error_hit = True
-        assert error_hit, "No error was thrown when trying to decrypt data without a header"    
+        assert error_hit, "No error was thrown when trying to decrypt data without a header"
 
     def test_cipher_not_set(self):
         # not setting the cipher should default to AES256
@@ -152,5 +154,5 @@ class TestVaultLib(unittest.TestCase):
             enc_data = v.encrypt(data)
         except errors.AnsibleError as e:
             error_hit = True
-        assert not error_hit, "An error was thrown when trying to encrypt data without the cipher set"    
-        assert v.cipher_name == "AES256", "cipher name is not set to AES256: %s" % v.cipher_name               
+        assert not error_hit, "An error was thrown when trying to encrypt data without the cipher set"
+        assert v.cipher_name == "AES256", "cipher name is not set to AES256: %s" % v.cipher_name