diff --git a/IPython/core/profileapp.py b/IPython/core/profileapp.py
index 4235789..79bfff0 100644
--- a/IPython/core/profileapp.py
+++ b/IPython/core/profileapp.py
@@ -99,7 +99,10 @@ def list_profiles_in(path):
     files = os.listdir(path)
     profiles = []
     for f in files:
-        full_path = os.path.join(path, f)
+        try:
+            full_path = os.path.join(path, f)
+        except UnicodeError:
+            continue
         if os.path.isdir(full_path) and f.startswith('profile_'):
             profiles.append(f.split('_',1)[-1])
     return profiles