diff --git a/lib/base.php b/lib/base.php
index 730cee5231d21a22462c4791902e397c7139d8db..95f6482e611469dfc00626c6df9e1fc8a9d2da02 100644
--- a/lib/base.php
+++ b/lib/base.php
@@ -472,6 +472,9 @@ class OC {
 		@ini_set('post_max_size', '10G');
 		@ini_set('file_uploads', '50');
 
+		// setting charset to UTF8
+		@ini_set('default_charset', 'UTF-8');
+
 		self::handleAuthHeaders();
 
 		self::initPaths();
diff --git a/lib/private/util.php b/lib/private/util.php
index eea194288f952ba8c7034ba4457cdb53a08ef47f..ec5b2740ae8bd901a553b20fa6b2d414533cedc5 100755
--- a/lib/private/util.php
+++ b/lib/private/util.php
@@ -1447,4 +1447,11 @@ class OC_Util {
 			return false;
 		}
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	public static function isPhpCharSetUtf8() {
+		return ini_get('default_charset') === 'UTF-8';
+	}
 }
diff --git a/settings/admin.php b/settings/admin.php
index 704f4519ff65887c160b5d34ef906dc795b093ac..230c31f620271b2dae8e8ec1d1ce22f350781408 100755
--- a/settings/admin.php
+++ b/settings/admin.php
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ $tmpl->assign('entriesremain', $entriesremain);
 $tmpl->assign('htaccessworking', $htaccessworking);
 $tmpl->assign('internetconnectionworking', OC_Util::isInternetConnectionEnabled() ? OC_Util::isInternetConnectionWorking() : false);
 $tmpl->assign('isLocaleWorking', OC_Util::isSetLocaleWorking());
+$tmpl->assign('isPhpCharSetUtf8', OC_Util::isPhpCharSetUtf8());
 $tmpl->assign('isAnnotationsWorking', OC_Util::isAnnotationsWorking());
 $tmpl->assign('isWebDavWorking', OC_Util::isWebDAVWorking());
 $tmpl->assign('has_fileinfo', OC_Util::fileInfoLoaded());
diff --git a/settings/templates/admin.php b/settings/templates/admin.php
index 03f3efd7aae1eee4735a2e2acdd0ad5d1875bc8b..de46cec476c510b948f90963c5a25f539f50cdec 100644
--- a/settings/templates/admin.php
+++ b/settings/templates/admin.php
@@ -129,14 +129,28 @@ if (!$_['has_fileinfo']) {
 // is PHP at least at 5.3.8?
 if ($_['old_php']) {
 	?>
-<div class="section">
-	<h2><?php p($l->t('Your PHP version is outdated'));?></h2>
+	<div class="section">
+		<h2><?php p($l->t('Your PHP version is outdated'));?></h2>
 
 		<span class="connectionwarning">
 		<?php p($l->t('Your PHP version is outdated. We strongly recommend to update to 5.3.8 or newer because older versions are known to be broken. It is possible that this installation is not working correctly.')); ?>
 	</span>
 
-</div>
+	</div>
+<?php
+}
+
+// is PHP charset set to UTF8?
+if (!$_['isPhpCharSetUtf8']) {
+	?>
+	<div class="section">
+		<h2><?php p($l->t('PHP charset is not set to UTF-8'));?></h2>
+
+		<span class="connectionwarning">
+		<?php p($l->t("PHP charset is not set to UTF-8. This can cause major issues with non-acsii characters in file names. We highly recommend to change the value of 'default_charset' php.ini to 'UTF-8'.")); ?>
+	</span>
+
+	</div>
 <?php
 }
 
@@ -168,14 +182,14 @@ if (!$_['isLocaleWorking']) {
 // is internet connection working ?
 if (!$_['internetconnectionworking']) {
 	?>
-<div class="section">
-	<h2><?php p($l->t('Internet connection not working'));?></h2>
+	<div class="section">
+		<h2><?php p($l->t('Internet connection not working'));?></h2>
 
 		<span class="connectionwarning">
 		<?php p($l->t('This server has no working internet connection. This means that some of the features like mounting of external storage, notifications about updates or installation of 3rd party apps don´t work. Accessing files from remote and sending of notification emails might also not work. We suggest to enable internet connection for this server if you want to have all features.')); ?>
 	</span>
 
-</div>
+	</div>
 <?php
 }
 ?>