diff --git a/internal/proc/batch_windows.go b/internal/proc/batch_windows.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9f0f347e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/proc/batch_windows.go
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+package proc
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"syscall"
+	"unicode"
+)
+
+// batch has a .cmd or .bat (npm.cmd, a CLI's npm shim) run by cmd.exe with
+// a command line cmd.exe reads back as the arguments given. Windows runs a
+// batch file as `cmd.exe /c <command line>`, and Go builds that line for a
+// program's own parsing: cmd.exe, seeing more than two quotes, drops the
+// first and the last, so `"C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.cmd" … --prefix
+// "C:\Program Files\nodejs" …` ran C:\Program; and an argument with & or |
+// in it, which Go leaves unquoted, was split into a second command there.
+//
+// Each argument is quoted the way Rust's standard library quotes one for a
+// batch file: in quotes when it has anything but letters, digits and
+// #$*+-./:?@\_ in it or a \ at its end, a " doubled, a % broken up so
+// cmd.exe expands no variable, and a line break refused, as it would end
+// the command. A doubled " is read back as one by programs built with
+// Microsoft's C runtime since 2008, node among them; Go's own parser reads
+// it the older way.
+func batch(cmd *exec.Cmd) {
+	if cmd.Err != nil || cmd.Path == "" {
+		return
+	}
+	switch strings.ToLower(filepath.Ext(cmd.Path)) {
+	case ".cmd", ".bat":
+	default:
+		return
+	}
+	if strings.ContainsAny(cmd.Path, "\"\r\n") {
+		cmd.Err = errBatchArg
+		return
+	}
+	var b strings.Builder
+	b.WriteString(`/d /e:ON /v:OFF /s /c ""`)
+	b.WriteString(cmd.Path)
+	b.WriteByte('"')
+	for _, a := range cmd.Args[1:] {
+		if strings.ContainsAny(a, "\r\n\x00") {
+			cmd.Err = errBatchArg
+			return
+		}
+		b.WriteByte(' ')
+		quoteBatchArg(&b, a)
+	}
+	b.WriteByte('"')
+	shell := comSpec()
+	if cmd.SysProcAttr == nil {
+		cmd.SysProcAttr = &syscall.SysProcAttr{}
+	}
+	cmd.SysProcAttr.CmdLine = `"` + shell + `" ` + b.String()
+	cmd.Args = append([]string{shell, "/d", "/e:ON", "/v:OFF", "/s", "/c", cmd.Path}, cmd.Args[1:]...)
+	cmd.Path = shell
+}
+
+var errBatchArg = errors.New("cmd.exe can't be handed a batch file with a quote in its path, or a line break or NUL in an argument")
+
+func quoteBatchArg(b *strings.Builder, a string) {
+	// a trailing \ is quoted too, or a script's "%~1" would have it
+	// escape the quote after it
+	quote := a == "" || strings.HasSuffix(a, `\`) || strings.IndexFunc(a, func(r rune) bool {
+		if r < 0x80 {
+			return !(r >= 'a' && r <= 'z' || r >= 'A' && r <= 'Z' || r >= '0' && r <= '9' || strings.ContainsRune(`#$*+-./:?@\_`, r))
+		}
+		return unicode.IsControl(r)
+	}) >= 0
+	if quote {
+		b.WriteByte('"')
+	}
+	backslashes := 0
+	for _, r := range a {
+		switch r {
+		case '\\':
+			backslashes++
+			b.WriteRune(r)
+			continue
+		case '"':
+			// the backslashes before it are doubled and the quote is
+			// doubled, which keeps cmd.exe's idea of what is quoted
+			b.WriteString(strings.Repeat(`\`, backslashes))
+			b.WriteByte('"')
+		case '%':
+			// %cd:~,% is always empty, and it stands between this % and
+			// the name after it
+			b.WriteString("%%cd:~,")
+		}
+		backslashes = 0
+		b.WriteRune(r)
+	}
+	if quote {
+		b.WriteString(strings.Repeat(`\`, backslashes))
+		b.WriteByte('"')
+	}
+}
+
+// comSpec is cmd.exe: %ComSpec% when it names one, else the one in
+// System32.
+func comSpec() string {
+	if c := os.Getenv("ComSpec"); filepath.IsAbs(c) && strings.EqualFold(filepath.Base(c), "cmd.exe") {
+		return c
+	}
+	root := os.Getenv("SystemRoot")
+	if root == "" {
+		root = `C:\Windows`
+	}
+	return filepath.Join(root, "System32", "cmd.exe")
+}
diff --git a/internal/proc/proc.go b/internal/proc/proc.go
index 5d4a4ac9..ec6ec274 100644
--- a/internal/proc/proc.go
+++ b/internal/proc/proc.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 // Command is exec.Command, with no window of its own on Windows.
 func Command(name string, args ...string) *exec.Cmd {
 	cmd := exec.Command(name, args...)
+	batch(cmd)
 	hide(cmd)
 	return cmd
 }
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ func CommandContext(ctx context.Context, name string, args ...string) *exec.Cmd
 	// Output waited for it however long it took (#123) — its pipes are
 	// closed a moment after instead
 	cmd.WaitDelay = waitDelay
+	batch(cmd)
 	hide(cmd)
 	return cmd
 }
diff --git a/internal/proc/proc_other.go b/internal/proc/proc_other.go
index 760f5de2..702dd396 100644
--- a/internal/proc/proc_other.go
+++ b/internal/proc/proc_other.go
@@ -6,3 +6,6 @@ import "os/exec"
 
 // hide has nothing to do: only Windows gives a child a window of its own.
 func hide(*exec.Cmd) {}
+
+// batch has nothing to do: only Windows runs a script through cmd.exe.
+func batch(*exec.Cmd) {}
diff --git a/internal/proc/proc_windows_test.go b/internal/proc/proc_windows_test.go
index 698f5bb7..1b077bc4 100644
--- a/internal/proc/proc_windows_test.go
+++ b/internal/proc/proc_windows_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@ package proc
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"slices"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 )
 
@@ -25,3 +32,55 @@ func TestHideWithoutConsole(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("with a console the child should share it: %+v", cmd.SysProcAttr)
 	}
 }
+
+// A .cmd in a folder with a space, given an argument with a space, hands
+// the program it runs the arguments as given: npm.cmd under nvm-windows'
+// C:\Program Files\nodejs, installing into that same folder, had cmd.exe
+// run "C:\Program" instead (wztlink1013 on Discord). The script passes %*
+// on, as npm.cmd does to node, to this test binary, which prints what it
+// was given. A " in an argument isn't among them: it comes back doubled to
+// Go's parser, which reads "" the way C runtimes did before 2008.
+func TestBatchFileInFolderWithSpace(t *testing.T) {
+	if os.Getenv("MAGPIE_PROC_ECHO") == "1" {
+		return
+	}
+	self, err := os.Executable()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	dir := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "Program Files", "nodejs")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	script := "@echo off\r\n\"" + self + "\" -test.run=TestEchoArgs -- %*\r\n"
+	for _, name := range []string{"npm.cmd", "tool.bat"} {
+		if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(dir, name), []byte(script), 0o755); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	args := []string{"install", "-g", "--prefix", dir, "@anthropic-ai/claude-code@latest",
+		"x&y", "a b|c", "%PATH%", `C:\a dir\`, `C:\b\`, "", "^(<>)!,;=", "中文 路径"}
+	want, _ := json.Marshal(args)
+	t.Setenv("MAGPIE_PROC_ECHO", "1")
+	t.Setenv("PATH", dir+string(os.PathListSeparator)+os.Getenv("PATH"))
+	for _, name := range []string{filepath.Join(dir, "npm.cmd"), filepath.Join(dir, "tool.bat"), "npm"} {
+		for _, cmd := range []*exec.Cmd{Command(name, args...), CommandContext(context.Background(), name, args...)} {
+			out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+			got, _, _ := strings.Cut(string(out), "\n")
+			if err != nil || got != string(want) {
+				t.Errorf("%s: got %q, %v; want %s", name, out, err, want)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// TestEchoArgs is the program TestBatchFileInFolderWithSpace's scripts run.
+func TestEchoArgs(t *testing.T) {
+	if os.Getenv("MAGPIE_PROC_ECHO") != "1" {
+		t.Skip("run by TestBatchFileInFolderWithSpace")
+	}
+	i := slices.Index(os.Args, "--")
+	b, _ := json.Marshal(append([]string{}, os.Args[i+1:]...))
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stdout, "%s\n", b)
+	os.Exit(0)
+}