diff --git a/salt/modules/win_update.py b/salt/modules/win_update.py
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/salt/modules/win_update.py
+++ b/salt/modules/win_update.py
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ class PyWinUpdater(object):
             if update.InstallationBehavior.CanRequestUserInput:
                 log.debug('Skipped update {0}'.format(str(update)))
                 continue
-            updates.append(str(update))
+            updates.append(salt.utils.sdecode(update))
             log.debug('added update {0}'.format(str(update)))
         return updates
attempt to decode win update package

Fixes #<I>.