diff --git a/bin/ansible b/bin/ansible
index 627510a72e..a02c5bc174 100755
--- a/bin/ansible
+++ b/bin/ansible
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ from ansible.errors import AnsibleError, AnsibleOptionsError, AnsibleParserError
 from ansible.utils.display import Display
 from ansible.utils.unicode import to_unicode
 
+
 ########################################
 ### OUTPUT OF LAST RESORT ###
 class LastResort(object):
@@ -108,7 +109,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         have_cli_options = cli is not None and cli.options is not None
         display.error("Unexpected Exception: %s" % to_unicode(e), wrap_text=False)
         if not have_cli_options or have_cli_options and cli.options.verbosity > 2:
-            display.display("the full traceback was:\n\n%s" % traceback.format_exc())
+            display.display(u"the full traceback was:\n\n%s" % to_unicode(traceback.format_exc()))
         else:
             display.display("to see the full traceback, use -vvv")
         sys.exit(250)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/process/worker.py b/lib/ansible/executor/process/worker.py
index 73f5faa78b..120bd8b141 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/process/worker.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/process/worker.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ from ansible.playbook.task import Task
 from ansible.vars.unsafe_proxy import AnsibleJSONUnsafeDecoder
 
 from ansible.utils.debug import debug
+from ansible.utils.unicode import to_unicode
 
 __all__ = ['WorkerProcess']
 
@@ -135,11 +136,11 @@ class WorkerProcess(multiprocessing.Process):
                 try:
                     self._host.vars = dict()
                     self._host.groups = []
-                    task_result = TaskResult(self._host, self._task, dict(failed=True, exception=traceback.format_exc(), stdout=''))
+                    task_result = TaskResult(self._host, self._task, dict(failed=True, exception=to_unicode(traceback.format_exc()), stdout=''))
                     self._rslt_q.put(task_result, block=False)
                 except:
-                    debug("WORKER EXCEPTION: %s" % e)
-                    debug("WORKER EXCEPTION: %s" % traceback.format_exc())
+                    debug(u"WORKER EXCEPTION: %s" % to_unicode(e))
+                    debug(u"WORKER EXCEPTION: %s" % to_unicode(traceback.format_exc()))
 
         debug("WORKER PROCESS EXITING")
 
diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/task_queue_manager.py b/lib/ansible/executor/task_queue_manager.py
index b5260c1f41..64b952126f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/task_queue_manager.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/task_queue_manager.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ from ansible.plugins import callback_loader, strategy_loader, module_loader
 from ansible.template import Templar
 from ansible.vars.hostvars import HostVars
 from ansible.plugins.callback import CallbackBase
+from ansible.utils.unicode import to_unicode
 
 try:
     from __main__ import display
@@ -306,7 +307,7 @@ class TaskQueueManager:
                             method(*args, **kwargs)
                     except Exception as e:
                         import traceback
-                        orig_tb = traceback.format_exc()
+                        orig_tb = to_unicode(traceback.format_exc())
                         try:
                             v1_method = method.replace('v2_','')
                             v1_method(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py
index dec4878740..ef2f630f97 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/connection/winrm.py
@@ -137,20 +137,20 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
                 protocol.send_message('')
                 return protocol
             except Exception as e:
-                err_msg = (str(e) or repr(e)).strip()
-                if re.search(r'Operation\s+?timed\s+?out', err_msg, re.I):
+                err_msg = to_unicode(e).strip()
+                if re.search(ur'Operation\s+?timed\s+?out', err_msg, re.I):
                     raise AnsibleError('the connection attempt timed out')
-                m = re.search(r'Code\s+?(\d{3})', err_msg)
+                m = re.search(ur'Code\s+?(\d{3})', err_msg)
                 if m:
                     code = int(m.groups()[0])
                     if code == 401:
                         err_msg = 'the username/password specified for this server was incorrect'
                     elif code == 411:
                         return protocol
-                errors.append('%s: %s' % (transport, err_msg))
-                display.vvvvv('WINRM CONNECTION ERROR: %s\n%s' % (err_msg, traceback.format_exc()), host=self._winrm_host)
+                errors.append(u'%s: %s' % (transport, err_msg))
+                display.vvvvv(u'WINRM CONNECTION ERROR: %s\n%s' % (err_msg, to_unicode(traceback.format_exc())), host=self._winrm_host)
         if errors:
-            raise AnsibleError(', '.join(errors))
+            raise AnsibleError(', '.join(to_str(errors)))
         else:
             raise AnsibleError('No transport found for WinRM connection')