diff --git a/stages/org.osbuild.gcp.guest-agent.conf b/stages/org.osbuild.gcp.guest-agent.conf
index 74af1311..afe1bfd1 100755
--- a/stages/org.osbuild.gcp.guest-agent.conf
+++ b/stages/org.osbuild.gcp.guest-agent.conf
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ def main(tree, options):
     for section_id, section_content in config.items():
         make_section(parser, section_id, section_content)
 
-    with open(filepath, "w") as f:
+    with open(filepath, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
         parser.write(f)
 
     return 0