diff --git a/radicale/app/__init__.py b/radicale/app/__init__.py
index 64685090..96a441ef 100644
--- a/radicale/app/__init__.py
+++ b/radicale/app/__init__.py
@@ -168,18 +168,6 @@ class Application(ApplicationPartDelete, ApplicationPartHead,
                 self._validate_user_value = "no-unicode"
             if self._validate_path_value not in ["strict", "no-unicode"]:
                 self._validate_path_value = "no-unicode"
-            if not self._storage._supports_problematic_chars or not self._storage._supports_trailing_whitespace:
-                if self._validate_user_value not in ["strict"]:
-                    self._validate_user_value = "strict"
-                if self._validate_path_value not in ["strict"]:
-                    self._validate_path_value = "strict"
-            logger.notice("validate user value: %r (enforced by limited support of collection storage)", self._validate_user_value)
-            logger.notice("validate path value: %r (enforced by limited support of collection storage)", self._validate_path_value)
-        elif not self._storage._supports_problematic_chars or not self._storage._supports_trailing_whitespace:
-            if self._validate_user_value not in ["strict"]:
-                self._validate_user_value = "strict"
-            if self._validate_path_value not in ["strict"]:
-                self._validate_path_value = "strict"
             logger.notice("validate user value: %r (enforced by limited support of collection storage)", self._validate_user_value)
             logger.notice("validate path value: %r (enforced by limited support of collection storage)", self._validate_path_value)
         else:
diff --git a/radicale/app/base.py b/radicale/app/base.py
index 81bc6258..fd4d9342 100644
--- a/radicale/app/base.py
+++ b/radicale/app/base.py
@@ -127,6 +127,8 @@ class ApplicationBase:
         check_unicode_letter = (validation_type == "unicode-letter")
         check_no_unicode = (validation_type == "no-unicode")
         logger.trace("_check_format investigate %r (validation_type=%r check_minimal=%s check_unicode_letter=%s check_no_unicode=%s)", string, validation_type, check_minimal, check_unicode_letter, check_no_unicode)
+        if not self._storage._supports_trailing_whitespace and string.endswith(' '):
+            return False
         for c in string:
             if c <= chr(31) or (c >= chr(127) and c <= chr(159)):
                 # ASCII: control char
@@ -135,15 +137,15 @@ class ApplicationBase:
                 # https://unicodeplus.com/category
                 # Unicode: control
                 return False
-            if check_minimal:
+            if check_minimal or not self._storage._supports_problematic_chars:
                 if c in blacklist_minimal:
                     logger.trace("_check_format found %r", c)
                     return False
-            elif check_unicode_letter:
+            if check_unicode_letter:
                 if c not in whitelist_unicode:
                     if unicodedata.category(c)[0] != "L":
                         return False
-            elif check_no_unicode:
+            if check_no_unicode:
                 if ord(c) > 255:
                     return False
         return True
diff --git a/radicale/tests/test_auth.py b/radicale/tests/test_auth.py
index 1ef34cdc..d2f71cfe 100644
--- a/radicale/tests/test_auth.py
+++ b/radicale/tests/test_auth.py
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ class TestBaseAuthRequests(BaseTest):
 
     def test_htpasswd_whitespace_user(self) -> None:
         for user in (" tmp", "tmp ", " tmp "):
-            if not pathutils.path_supports_trailing_whitespace(self.colpath) and (user.endswith(' ') or user.startswith(' ')):
+            if not pathutils.path_supports_trailing_whitespace(self.colpath) and user.endswith(' '):
                 check = 401
             else:
                 check = 207