diff --git a/script/lint.js b/script/lint.js
index c50522c843b5..eabfd5176c7d 100755
--- a/script/lint.js
+++ b/script/lint.js
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ function spawnAndCheckExitCode (cmd, args, opts) {
 
 function cpplint (args) {
   args.unshift(`--root=${SOURCE_ROOT}`);
-  const result = childProcess.spawnSync(IS_WINDOWS ? 'cpplint.bat' : 'cpplint.py', args, { encoding: 'utf8', shell: true });
+  const cmd = IS_WINDOWS ? 'cpplint.bat' : 'cpplint.py';
+  const result = childProcess.spawnSync(cmd, args, { encoding: 'utf8', shell: true });
   // cpplint.py writes EVERYTHING to stderr, including status messages
   if (result.stderr) {
     for (const line of result.stderr.split(/[\r\n]+/)) {
diff --git a/script/nan-spec-runner.js b/script/nan-spec-runner.js
index d907d2875f00..1d84ca52756a 100644
--- a/script/nan-spec-runner.js
+++ b/script/nan-spec-runner.js
@@ -93,7 +93,8 @@ async function main () {
   const { status: buildStatus } = cp.spawnSync(NPX_CMD, ['node-gyp', 'rebuild', '--verbose', '--directory', 'test', '-j', 'max'], {
     env,
     cwd: NAN_DIR,
-    stdio: 'inherit'
+    stdio: 'inherit',
+    shell: process.platform === 'win32'
   });
 
   if (buildStatus !== 0) {
@@ -104,7 +105,8 @@ async function main () {
   const { status: installStatus } = cp.spawnSync(NPX_CMD, [`yarn@${YARN_VERSION}`, 'install'], {
     env,
     cwd: NAN_DIR,
-    stdio: 'inherit'
+    stdio: 'inherit',
+    shell: process.platform === 'win32'
   });
   if (installStatus !== 0) {
     console.error('Failed to install nan node_modules');
diff --git a/script/run-if-exists.js b/script/run-if-exists.js
index 9ffe732bc619..c4c86876cd25 100644
--- a/script/run-if-exists.js
+++ b/script/run-if-exists.js
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ if (fs.existsSync(checkPath)) {
     command.slice(1),
     {
       stdio: 'inherit',
-      cwd: checkPath
+      cwd: checkPath,
+      shell: process.platform === 'win32'
     }
   );
   child.on('exit', code => process.exit(code));
diff --git a/script/spec-runner.js b/script/spec-runner.js
index 04be288e4e87..4fb1badc4958 100755
--- a/script/spec-runner.js
+++ b/script/spec-runner.js
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ async function installSpecModules (dir) {
   const { status } = childProcess.spawnSync(NPX_CMD, [`yarn@${YARN_VERSION}`, 'install', '--frozen-lockfile'], {
     env,
     cwd: dir,
-    stdio: 'inherit'
+    stdio: 'inherit',
+    shell: process.platform === 'win32'
   });
   if (status !== 0 && !process.env.IGNORE_YARN_INSTALL_ERROR) {
     console.log(`${fail} Failed to yarn install in '${dir}'`);
diff --git a/script/yarn.js b/script/yarn.js
index 3638802ccda5..931588f82337 100644
--- a/script/yarn.js
+++ b/script/yarn.js
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ if (require.main === module) {
     env: {
       ...process.env,
       npm_config_yes: 'true'
-    }
+    },
+    shell: process.platform === 'win32'
   });
 
   child.on('exit', code => process.exit(code));