A workaround is to change the maya-scripts location by setting the environment variable MAYA_APP_DIR to any custom location. On Windows, please follow these steps:
1) Create a folder at a location that contains only ASCII characters, i.e.:
2) Open Control Panel and follow the screenshots below:
3) Create the variable MAYA_APP_DIR, where the value is the folder you created before. Click OK.
4) Restart Windows and Maya should use your new folder as the maya-scripts location. If you want, you can copy your previous preferences by copying the entire "maya" folder from your old <user>/maya to your new location.