diff --git a/share/tools/web_config/webconfig.py b/share/tools/web_config/webconfig.py
index 89d180b7d..47a9fb4e1 100755
--- a/share/tools/web_config/webconfig.py
+++ b/share/tools/web_config/webconfig.py
@@ -861,7 +861,7 @@ where = os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0])
 os.chdir(where)
 
 # Generate a 16-byte random key as a hexadecimal string
-authkey = binascii.b2a_hex(os.urandom(16))
+authkey = binascii.b2a_hex(os.urandom(16)).decode('ascii')
 
 # Try to find a suitable port
 PORT = 8000