diff --git a/src/rockstor/system/tailscale.py b/src/rockstor/system/tailscale.py
index b6aaa3fa7..60315a62c 100644
--- a/src/rockstor/system/tailscale.py
+++ b/src/rockstor/system/tailscale.py
@@ -104,32 +104,20 @@ def extract_param(param: str) -> str:
 
 
 def validate_ts_hostname(config: dict) -> dict:
-    """Ensure hostname is alphanumeric with hyphens only
-    No special character (including hyphens) is allowed as a custom hostname.
-
-    "hostname": "rock-dev_@#~!$%^&*()+123"
+    """Applies a set of rules to validate hostname
+    Keep each character in hostname only if:
+    - not a special character
+    - not a unicode character
+    - is hyphen
+    - replace underscore with hyphen
+
+    "hostname": "rock-dev_@#~!$%^&*()+123ü"
     should return
     "hostname": "rock-dev-123"
     """
     if "hostname" in config:
         config["hostname"] = re.sub("_", "-", config["hostname"])
-        to_exclude = [
-            "@",
-            "#",
-            "~",
-            "!",
-            "$",
-            "%",
-            "^",
-            "&",
-            "*",
-            "(",
-            ")",
-            "+",
-        ]
-        config["hostname"] = "".join(
-            c for c in config["hostname"] if not c in to_exclude
-        )
+        config["hostname"] = re.sub("[^a-zA-Z0-9-]", "", config["hostname"])
     return config
 
 
diff --git a/src/rockstor/system/tests/test_tailscale.py b/src/rockstor/system/tests/test_tailscale.py
index f068e6f20..76abcf018 100644
--- a/src/rockstor/system/tests/test_tailscale.py
+++ b/src/rockstor/system/tests/test_tailscale.py
@@ -60,14 +60,14 @@ def test_tailscale_extract_param(self):
             )
 
     def test_tailscale_validate_hostname(self):
-        """Ensure alphanumeric and no underscore in hostname"""
+        """Ensure alphanumeric, no underscore, and no unicode in hostname"""
         test_config = {
             "accept_routes": "yes",
             "advertise_exit_node": "yes",
             "advertise_routes": "192.168.1.0/24",
             "exit_node": "100.1.1.1",
             "exit_node_allow_lan_access": "true",
-            "hostname": "rock-dev_@#~!$%^&*()+123",
+            "hostname": "rock-dev_@#~!$%^&*()+123ü",
             "reset": "yes",
             "ssh": "yes",
             "custom_config": "--shields-up\n--accept-risk=all",