FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::JSON::EncodeError: Invalid UTF-8 string: cannot encode to UTF-8

Question

While installing chef-server on my VM I am getting the following error.

FATAL: Chef::Exceptions::JSON::EncodeError: Invalid UTF-8 string: cannot encode to UTF-8

and my chef-stacktrace.out is

Chef::Exceptions::JSON::EncodeError: Invalid UTF-8 string: cannot encode to UTF-8
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/json_compat.rb:107:in `rescue in to_json'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/json_compat.rb:104:in `to_json'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/http/json_input.rb:35:in `handle_request'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/http.rb:222:in `block in apply_request_middleware'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/http.rb:220:in `each'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/http.rb:220:in `inject'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/http.rb:220:in `apply_request_middleware'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/http.rb:141:in `request'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/http.rb:118:in `put'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/node.rb:512:in `save'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/client.rb:257:in `save_updated_node'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/client.rb:403:in `run'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/application.rb:243:in `run_with_graceful_exit_option'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/application.rb:220:in `block in run_chef_client'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/local_mode.rb:38:in `with_server_connectivity'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/application.rb:201:in `run_chef_client'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/application/client.rb:328:in `run_application'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/lib/chef/application.rb:58:in `run'
/opt/opscode/embedded/lib/ruby/gems/2.1.0/gems/chef-12.0.3/bin/chef-client:26:in `<top (required)>'
/opt/opscode/embedded/bin/chef-client:23:in `load'
/opt/opscode/embedded/bin/chef-client:23:in `<main>'
~
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I have tried almost everything. I realised that the issue was related to encoding but couldn't solve it. Any help is appreciated. thanks.

Answer 1

I believe this should be fixed in version 12.4.0

https://github.com/chef/chef/issues/3216