diff --git a/doc/api/child_process.md b/doc/api/child_process.md
index b3484de5762890..c984004f94b6d2 100644
--- a/doc/api/child_process.md
+++ b/doc/api/child_process.md
@@ -304,6 +304,9 @@ output on this fd is expected to be line delimited JSON objects.
 *Note: Unlike the fork(2) POSIX system call, `child_process.fork()` does
 not clone the current process.*
 
+*Note*: The `shell` option available in [`child_process.spawn()`][] is not
+supported by `child_process.fork()` and will be ignored if set.
+
 ### child_process.spawn(command[, args][, options])
 <!-- YAML
 added: v0.1.90
diff --git a/lib/child_process.js b/lib/child_process.js
index e0e81c8dec2643..96fd8404ca731a 100644
--- a/lib/child_process.js
+++ b/lib/child_process.js
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ exports.fork = function(modulePath /*, args, options*/) {
   }
 
   options.execPath = options.execPath || process.execPath;
+  options.shell = false;
 
   return spawn(options.execPath, args, options);
 };