diff --git a/src/NT_fmt.c b/src/NT_fmt.c
index 4c6d1fa..c4c1035 100644
--- a/src/NT_fmt.c
+++ b/src/NT_fmt.c
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ static struct fmt_tests tests[] = {
 	{"$NT$b7e4b9022cd45f275334bbdb83bb5be5", "John the Ripper"},
 	{"$NT$8846f7eaee8fb117ad06bdd830b7586c", "password"},
 	{"$NT$0cb6948805f797bf2a82807973b89537", "test"},
+	{"$NT$8bd6e4fb88e01009818749c5443ea712", "\xFC"},   // German u-diaeresis (here represented in Latin-1)
 	{"$NT$31d6cfe0d16ae931b73c59d7e0c089c0", ""},
 	{NULL}
 };
@@ -451,11 +452,11 @@ static void set_key(char *key, int index)
 		
 		if(temp)
 		{
-			nt_buffer8x[i+buff_base] = key[md4_size-1] | (temp<<16);
+			nt_buffer8x[i+buff_base] = (unsigned char)key[md4_size-1] | (temp<<16);
 		}
 		else
 		{
-			nt_buffer8x[i+buff_base] = key[md4_size-1] | 0x800000;
+			nt_buffer8x[i+buff_base] = (unsigned char)key[md4_size-1] | 0x800000;
 			goto key_cleaning;
 		}
 	}