diff --git a/collects/handin-client/this-collection.ss b/collects/handin-client/this-collection.ss
index 9b056a03a0..ce8c88ee67 100644
--- a/collects/handin-client/this-collection.ss
+++ b/collects/handin-client/this-collection.ss
@@ -4,12 +4,9 @@
     (let* ([p (syntax-source stx)]
            [dir  (and (path? p) (let-values ([(b _1 _2) (split-path p)]) b))]
            [name (and (path? dir)
-                      ;; path->string + bytes->path is a hack to get a proper
-                      ;; string because there is no path-element->string
-                      (path->string
-                       (bytes->path
-                        (path-element->bytes
-                         (let-values ([(_1 p _2) (split-path dir)]) p)))))])
+                      (bytes->string/locale
+                       (path-element->bytes
+                        (let-values ([(_1 p _2) (split-path dir)]) p))))])
       ;; check that we are installed as a top-level collection (this is needed
       ;; because there are some code bits (that depend on bindings from this
       ;; file) that expect this to be true)
diff --git a/collects/mred/private/path-dialog.ss b/collects/mred/private/path-dialog.ss
index 8acd0839d6..7e7ef6acc9 100644
--- a/collects/mred/private/path-dialog.ss
+++ b/collects/mred/private/path-dialog.ss
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
   (define (path->pname path isdir?)
     (let* ([name (if (member (path->string path) '("." ".."))
                    (path->string path) ; avoid segfault bug (PR8481)
-                   (bytes->string/utf-8 (path-element->bytes path)))]
+                   (bytes->string/locale (path-element->bytes path)))]
            [name (regexp-replace end-separators-rx name "")]
            [name (if (<= 199 (string-length name))
                    (string-append (substring name 0 195) "...")