diff --git a/test/integration/activate_int_test.go b/test/integration/activate_int_test.go
index 2f3010f1ea..c577e8d645 100644
--- a/test/integration/activate_int_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/activate_int_test.go
@@ -263,6 +263,14 @@ func (suite *ActivateIntegrationTestSuite) activatePython(version string, extraE
 	pipExe := "pip" + version
 	cp.SendLine(fmt.Sprintf("%s --version", pipExe))
 
+	// test that existing environment variables are inherited by the activated shell
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		cp.SendLine(fmt.Sprintf("echo %%%s%%", constants.DisableRuntime))
+	} else {
+		cp.SendLine("echo $" + constants.DisableRuntime)
+	}
+	cp.Expect(constants.DisableRuntime + "=false")
+
 	// Exit activated state
 	cp.SendLine("exit")
 	cp.ExpectExitCode(0)