diff --git a/src/config/config.ts b/src/config/config.ts
index cf462431..f21b1198 100644
--- a/src/config/config.ts
+++ b/src/config/config.ts
@@ -663,6 +663,10 @@ export class Config implements IConfig {
     const SHELL = process.env.SHELL ?? osUserInfo().shell?.split(sep)?.pop()
     if (SHELL) {
       shellPath = SHELL.split('/')
+    } else if (this.windows && process.title.toLowerCase().includes('powershell')) {
+      shellPath = ['powershell']
+    } else if (this.windows && process.title.toLowerCase().includes('command prompt')) {
+      shellPath = ['cmd.exe']
     } else if (this.windows && COMSPEC) {
       shellPath = COMSPEC.split(/\\|\//)
     } else {
diff --git a/test/config/config.shell.test.ts b/test/config/config.shell.test.ts
index cb8ce96e..fcda9f02 100644
--- a/test/config/config.shell.test.ts
+++ b/test/config/config.shell.test.ts
@@ -4,11 +4,22 @@ import {sep} from 'node:path'
 
 import {Config} from '../../src'
 
-const getShell = () => osUserInfo().shell?.split(sep)?.pop() || 'unknown'
+const getShell = () =>
+  osUserInfo().shell?.split(sep)?.pop() || (process.platform === 'win32' ? 'powershell' : 'unknown')
 
 describe('config shell', () => {
-  it('has a default shell', () => {
-    const config = new Config({root: '/tmp'})
+  it('has a default shell', async () => {
+    const config = new Config({
+      root: '/tmp',
+      pjson: {
+        name: 'test-cli',
+        version: '0.0.1',
+        oclif: {
+          bin: 'test-cli',
+        },
+      },
+    })
+    await config.load()
     // @ts-expect-error because _shell is private
     expect(config._shell()).to.equal(getShell(), `SHELL: ${process.env.SHELL} COMSPEC: ${process.env.COMSPEC}`)
   })