diff --git a/cmd-load-buffer.c b/cmd-load-buffer.c
index 6fd2a767..de76b855 100644
--- a/cmd-load-buffer.c
+++ b/cmd-load-buffer.c
@@ -73,9 +73,9 @@ cmd_load_buffer_exec(struct cmd *self, struct cmd_q *cmdq)
 		return (CMD_RETURN_WAIT);
 	}
 
-	if (c != NULL && c->session == NULL)
+	if (c != NULL && c->session == NULL && c->cwd != NULL)
 		cwd = c->cwd;
-	else if ((s = c->session) != NULL)
+	else if ((s = c->session) != NULL && s->cwd != NULL)
 		cwd = s->cwd;
 	else
 		cwd = ".";
diff --git a/cmd-new-session.c b/cmd-new-session.c
index 291107bc..357ffed1 100644
--- a/cmd-new-session.c
+++ b/cmd-new-session.c
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ cmd_new_session_exec(struct cmd *self, struct cmd_q *cmdq)
 		format_defaults(ft, c, NULL, NULL, NULL);
 		to_free = cwd = format_expand(ft, args_get(args, 'c'));
 		format_free(ft);
-	} else if (c != NULL && c->session == NULL)
+	} else if (c != NULL && c->session == NULL && c->cwd != NULL)
 		cwd = c->cwd;
 	else
 		cwd = ".";
diff --git a/cmd-save-buffer.c b/cmd-save-buffer.c
index f8756587..56472565 100644
--- a/cmd-save-buffer.c
+++ b/cmd-save-buffer.c
@@ -97,9 +97,9 @@ cmd_save_buffer_exec(struct cmd *self, struct cmd_q *cmdq)
 		goto do_print;
 	}
 
-	if (c != NULL && c->session == NULL)
+	if (c != NULL && c->session == NULL && c->cwd != NULL)
 		cwd = c->cwd;
-	else if ((s = c->session) != NULL)
+	else if ((s = c->session) != NULL && s->cwd != NULL)
 		cwd = s->cwd;
 	else
 		cwd = ".";
diff --git a/tmux.c b/tmux.c
index 0c3e48dc..1ff3e0db 100644
--- a/tmux.c
+++ b/tmux.c
@@ -190,9 +190,12 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	const char	*s;
 	int		 opt, flags, keys;
 
-	setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "en_US.UTF-8");
-	setlocale(LC_TIME, "");
+	if (setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "en_US.UTF-8") == NULL)
+		setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "");
+	if (wcwidth(0xfffd) != 1)
+		errx(1, "no UTF-8 locale; please set LC_CTYPE");
 
+	setlocale(LC_TIME, "");
 	tzset();
 
 	if (**argv == '-')