diff --git a/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py b/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
index db260d9a4a..dfa8b0234d 100644
--- a/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
+++ b/nova/virt/disk/vfs/guestfs.py
@@ -308,7 +308,10 @@ class VFSGuestFS(vfs.VFS):
     def read_file(self, path):
         LOG.debug("Read file path=%s", path)
         path = self._canonicalize_path(path)
-        return self.handle.read_file(path)
+        contents = self.handle.read_file(path)
+        if not six.PY2:
+            contents = contents.decode()
+        return contents
 
     def has_file(self, path):
         LOG.debug("Has file path=%s", path)