diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py b/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
index b7cc8aa0ca..f7b6d40b1e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/module_common.py
@@ -839,14 +839,14 @@ def modify_module(module_name, module_path, module_args, task_vars=dict(), modul
 
 def build_windows_module_payload(module_name, module_path, b_module_data, module_args, task_vars, task, play_context, environment):
     exec_manifest = dict(
-        module_entry=base64.b64encode(b_module_data),
+        module_entry=to_text(base64.b64encode(b_module_data)),
         powershell_modules=dict(),
         module_args=module_args,
         actions=['exec'],
         environment=environment
     )
 
-    exec_manifest['exec'] = base64.b64encode(to_bytes(leaf_exec))
+    exec_manifest['exec'] = to_text(base64.b64encode(to_bytes(leaf_exec)))
 
     if task.async > 0:
         exec_manifest["actions"].insert(0, 'async_watchdog')
@@ -874,8 +874,14 @@ def build_windows_module_payload(module_name, module_path, b_module_data, module
             # TODO: add #Requires checks for Ansible.ModuleUtils.X
 
     for m in module_names:
-        exec_manifest["powershell_modules"][m] = base64.b64encode(
-            to_bytes(_slurp(os.path.join(_MODULE_UTILS_PATH, m + ".ps1"))))
+        m = to_text(m)
+        exec_manifest["powershell_modules"][m] = to_text(
+            base64.b64encode(
+                to_bytes(
+                    _slurp(os.path.join(_MODULE_UTILS_PATH, m + ".ps1"))
+                )
+            )
+        )
 
     # FUTURE: smuggle this back as a dict instead of serializing here; the connection plugin may need to modify it
     b_module_data = json.dumps(exec_manifest)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py
index 44f84c2073..384065d3b7 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py
@@ -392,11 +392,11 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
         return (result.status_code, result.std_out, result.std_err)
 
     def is_clixml(self, value):
-        return value.startswith("#< CLIXML")
+        return value.startswith(b"#< CLIXML")
 
     # hacky way to get just stdout- not always sure of doc framing here, so use with care
     def parse_clixml_stream(self, clixml_doc, stream_name='Error'):
-        clear_xml = clixml_doc.replace('#< CLIXML\r\n', '')
+        clear_xml = clixml_doc.replace(b'#< CLIXML\r\n', b'')
         doc = xmltodict.parse(clear_xml)
         lines = [l.get('#text', '').replace('_x000D__x000A_', '') for l in doc.get('Objs', {}).get('S', {}) if l.get('@S') == stream_name]
         return '\r\n'.join(lines)