diff --git a/client/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/client/WinRmClient.java b/client/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/client/WinRmClient.java
index 36d1c843..7514da7c 100644
--- a/client/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/client/WinRmClient.java
+++ b/client/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/client/WinRmClient.java
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ public class WinRmClient implements AutoCloseable {
     private final Locale locale;
     private final Map<String, String> environment;
     private final PayloadEncryptionMode payloadEncryptionMode;
+    private final int codePage;
     private final WinRm service;
     private AsyncHttpEncryptionAwareConduitFactory factoryToCleanup;
 
@@ -205,6 +206,7 @@ public Builder(String endpoint, String authenticationScheme) {
 
         this.workingDirectory = builder.workingDirectory;
         this.locale = builder.locale;
+        this.codePage = builder.codePage;
         this.operationTimeout = toDuration(builder.operationTimeout);
         this.retryReceiveAfterOperationTimeout = builder.retryReceiveAfterOperationTimeout;
         this.environment = builder.environment;
@@ -534,7 +536,7 @@ public ShellCommand createShell() {
         optSetCreate.getOption().add(optNoProfile);
         OptionType optCodepage = new OptionType();
         optCodepage.setName("WINRS_CODEPAGE");
-        optCodepage.setValue("437");
+        optCodepage.setValue(Integer.toString(codePage));
         optSetCreate.getOption().add(optCodepage);
 
         ResourceCreated resourceCreated = null;
diff --git a/client/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/client/WinRmClientBuilder.java b/client/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/client/WinRmClientBuilder.java
index 23e412a6..850372db 100644
--- a/client/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/client/WinRmClientBuilder.java
+++ b/client/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/client/WinRmClientBuilder.java
@@ -22,6 +22,19 @@
 
 public class WinRmClientBuilder {
     private static final java.util.Locale DEFAULT_LOCALE = java.util.Locale.US;
+
+    /**
+     * Older Windows systems may have issues with a modern UTF-8, so the default sticks with
+     * the legacy codepage 437 which is referred by en-us. However, for modern systems,
+     * the UTF-8 variant 65001 may be more suitable.
+     */
+    public static final int DEFAULT_CODEPAGE = 437;
+
+    /**
+     * Means using a UTF-8 codepage. If the remote system is older, this may have issues.
+     */
+    public static final int UTF8_CODEPAGE = 65001;
+
     /**
      * Timeout applied by default on client side for the opening of the socket (0 meaning infinite waiting).
      */
@@ -52,6 +65,7 @@ public class WinRmClientBuilder {
     protected String password;
     protected String workingDirectory;
     protected Locale locale;
+    protected int codePage;
     protected long operationTimeout;
     protected Predicate<String> retryReceiveAfterOperationTimeout;
     protected long connectionTimeout;
@@ -79,6 +93,7 @@ public class WinRmClientBuilder {
         this.endpoint = WinRmClient.checkNotNull(endpoint, "endpoint");
         authenticationScheme(AuthSchemes.NTLM);
         locale(DEFAULT_LOCALE);
+        codePage(DEFAULT_CODEPAGE);
         operationTimeout(DEFAULT_OPERATION_TIMEOUT);
         retryReceiveAfterOperationTimeout(alwaysRetryReceiveAfterOperationTimeout());
         connectionTimeout(DEFAULT_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT);
@@ -116,6 +131,14 @@ public WinRmClientBuilder locale(java.util.Locale locale) {
         return this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @param codePage The shell's codePage
+     */
+    public WinRmClientBuilder codePage(int codePage) {
+        this.codePage = codePage;
+        return this;
+    }
+
     /**
      * If operations cannot be completed in a specified time,
      * the service returns a fault so that a client can comply with its obligations.
diff --git a/winrm4j/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/winrm/WinRmTool.java b/winrm4j/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/winrm/WinRmTool.java
index 2f3cead9..302cc4e2 100644
--- a/winrm4j/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/winrm/WinRmTool.java
+++ b/winrm4j/src/main/java/io/cloudsoft/winrm4j/winrm/WinRmTool.java
@@ -41,6 +41,16 @@ public class WinRmTool {
     public static final int DEFAULT_WINRM_HTTPS_PORT = 5986;
     public static final Boolean DEFAULT_SKIP_COMMAND_SHELL = Boolean.FALSE;
 
+    /**
+     * @see WinRmClientBuilder#DEFAULT_CODEPAGE
+     */
+    public static final int DEFAULT_CODEPAGE = WinRmClientBuilder.DEFAULT_CODEPAGE;
+
+    /**
+     * @see WinRmClientBuilder#UTF8_CODEPAGE
+     */
+    public static final int UTF8_CODEPAGE = WinRmClientBuilder.UTF8_CODEPAGE;
+
     // TODO consider make them non-final and accessing the properties directly from builder.
     // This impose moving getEndpointUrl() to the WinRmTool.
     private final String address;
@@ -64,6 +74,7 @@ public class WinRmTool {
     private final WinRmClientContext context;
     private final boolean requestNewKerberosTicket;
     private PayloadEncryptionMode payloadEncryptionMode;
+    private int codePage = DEFAULT_CODEPAGE;
 
     public static class Builder {
         private String authenticationScheme = AuthSchemes.NTLM;
@@ -83,6 +94,7 @@ public static class Builder {
         private WinRmClientContext context;
         private boolean requestNewKerberosTicket;
         private PayloadEncryptionMode payloadEncryptionMode;
+        private int codePage = DEFAULT_CODEPAGE;
 
         private static final Pattern matchPort = Pattern.compile(".*:(\\d+)$");
 
@@ -173,12 +185,17 @@ public Builder payloadEncryptionMode(PayloadEncryptionMode x) {
             return this;
         }
 
+        public Builder codePage(int codePage) {
+            this.codePage = codePage;
+            return this;
+        }
+
         public WinRmTool build() {
             return new WinRmTool(getEndpointUrl(address, useHttps, port),
                     domain, username, password, authenticationScheme,
                     allowChunking, disableCertificateChecks, workingDirectory,
                     environment, hostnameVerifier, sslSocketFactory, sslContext,
-                    context, requestNewKerberosTicket, payloadEncryptionMode);
+                    context, requestNewKerberosTicket, payloadEncryptionMode, codePage);
         }
 
         // TODO remove arguments when method WinRmTool.connect() is removed
@@ -219,12 +236,36 @@ private static String getEndpointUrl(String address, Boolean useHttps, Integer p
         }
     }
 
+    @Deprecated /** @deprecated use bigger constructor */
+    private WinRmTool(String address, String domain, String username,
+            String password, String authenticationScheme,
+            boolean allowChunking, boolean disableCertificateChecks, String workingDirectory,
+            Map<String, String> environment, HostnameVerifier hostnameVerifier,
+            SSLSocketFactory sslSocketFactory, SSLContext sslContext, WinRmClientContext context,
+            boolean requestNewKerberosTicket) {
+        this.allowChunking = allowChunking;
+        this.disableCertificateChecks = disableCertificateChecks;
+        this.address = address;
+        this.domain = domain;
+        this.username = username;
+        this.password = password;
+        this.authenticationScheme = authenticationScheme;
+        this.workingDirectory = workingDirectory;
+        this.environment = environment;
+        this.hostnameVerifier = hostnameVerifier;
+        this.sslSocketFactory = sslSocketFactory;
+        this.sslContext = sslContext;
+        this.context = context;
+        this.requestNewKerberosTicket = requestNewKerberosTicket;
+    }
+
     private WinRmTool(String address, String domain, String username,
                       String password, String authenticationScheme,
                       boolean allowChunking, boolean disableCertificateChecks, String workingDirectory,
                       Map<String, String> environment, HostnameVerifier hostnameVerifier,
                       SSLSocketFactory sslSocketFactory, SSLContext sslContext, WinRmClientContext context,
-                      boolean requestNewKerberosTicket, PayloadEncryptionMode payloadEncryptionMode) {
+                      boolean requestNewKerberosTicket, PayloadEncryptionMode payloadEncryptionMode,
+                      int codePage) {
         this.allowChunking = allowChunking;
         this.disableCertificateChecks = disableCertificateChecks;
         this.address = address;
@@ -240,6 +281,7 @@ private WinRmTool(String address, String domain, String username,
         this.context = context;
         this.requestNewKerberosTicket = requestNewKerberosTicket;
         this.payloadEncryptionMode = payloadEncryptionMode;
+        this.codePage = codePage;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -388,6 +430,7 @@ public WinRmToolResponse executeCommand(String command, List<String> args, Boole
             builder.requestNewKerberosTicket(requestNewKerberosTicket);
         }
         builder.payloadEncryptionMode(payloadEncryptionMode);
+        builder.codePage(codePage);
 
         WinRmToolResponse winRmToolResponse;
 
@@ -421,7 +464,7 @@ public WinRmToolResponse executePs(String psCommand, Writer out, Writer err) {
     }
 
     public WinRmToolResponse executePs(String psCommand, Boolean skipCommandShell, Writer out, Writer err) {
-        return executeCommand("powershell", Arrays.asList("-encodedcommand", compileBase64(psCommand)), skipCommandShell, out, err);
+        return executeCommand("chcp " + codePage + " > NUL & powershell", Arrays.asList("-encodedcommand", compileBase64(psCommand)), skipCommandShell, out, err);
     }
 
     /**