diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index b2de5382..8bcbe8db 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+0.62.3
+ - fix: get_r_version string conversion not necessary
 0.62.2
  - fix: use full path to R executable when running lme4 analysis in rsetup
  - enh: properly catch CalledProcessError in run_command
diff --git a/dclab/lme4/rsetup.py b/dclab/lme4/rsetup.py
index 413362ce..d2167716 100644
--- a/dclab/lme4/rsetup.py
+++ b/dclab/lme4/rsetup.py
@@ -72,8 +72,8 @@ def get_r_version():
     require_r()
     cmd = (str(get_r_path()), "--version")
     logger.debug(f"Looking for R version with: {' '.join(cmd)}")
-    tmp = run_command(cmd, stderr=sp.STDOUT)
-    r_version = tmp.decode("ascii", "ignore").split(os.linesep)
+    r_version = run_command(cmd, stderr=sp.STDOUT)
+    r_version = r_version.split(os.linesep)
     if r_version[0].startswith("WARNING"):
         r_version = r_version[1]
     else:
diff --git a/tests/test_lme4.py b/tests/test_lme4.py
index e425f8e0..f14e163c 100644
--- a/tests/test_lme4.py
+++ b/tests/test_lme4.py
@@ -105,6 +105,12 @@ def test_fail_get_non_existent_data():
         rlme4.get_feature_data(group="control", repetition=3)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.xfail(IS_ON_GITHUB_WINDOWS,
+                   reason="https://github.com/astamm/nloptr/issues/115")
+def test_get_r_version():
+    assert rsetup.get_r_version()
+
+
 @pytest.mark.xfail(IS_ON_GITHUB_WINDOWS,
                    reason="https://github.com/astamm/nloptr/issues/115")
 def test_glmer_basic_larger():