diff --git a/src/npm.ts b/src/npm.ts
index 8b0459e8..7aaf77e3 100644
--- a/src/npm.ts
+++ b/src/npm.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ import {readFile} from 'node:fs/promises'
 import {createRequire} from 'node:module'
 import {join, sep} from 'node:path'
 
-import {ExecOptions, Output, fork} from './fork.js'
 import {LogLevel} from './log-level.js'
+import {ExecOptions, Output, spawn} from './spawn.js'
 
 const debug = makeDebug('@oclif/plugin-plugins:npm')
 
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export class NPM {
 
     debug(`${options.cwd}: ${bin} ${args.join(' ')}`)
     try {
-      const output = await fork(bin, args, options)
+      const output = await spawn(bin, args, options)
       debug('npm done')
       return output
     } catch (error: unknown) {
diff --git a/src/plugins.ts b/src/plugins.ts
index 31699057..a4028d5c 100644
--- a/src/plugins.ts
+++ b/src/plugins.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@ import {basename, dirname, join, resolve} from 'node:path'
 import {fileURLToPath} from 'node:url'
 import {gt, valid, validRange} from 'semver'
 
-import {Output} from './fork.js'
 import {LogLevel} from './log-level.js'
 import {NPM} from './npm.js'
+import {Output} from './spawn.js'
 import {uniqWith} from './util.js'
 import {Yarn} from './yarn.js'
 
diff --git a/src/fork.ts b/src/spawn.ts
similarity index 66%
rename from src/fork.ts
rename to src/spawn.ts
index 20e797d2..fe7f0012 100644
--- a/src/fork.ts
+++ b/src/spawn.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {Errors, ux} from '@oclif/core'
 import makeDebug from 'debug'
-import {fork as cpFork} from 'node:child_process'
+import {spawn as cpSpawn} from 'node:child_process'
 import {npmRunPathEnv} from 'npm-run-path'
 
 import {LogLevel} from './log-level.js'
@@ -15,11 +15,19 @@ export type Output = {
   stdout: string[]
 }
 
-const debug = makeDebug('@oclif/plugin-plugins:fork')
+const debug = makeDebug('@oclif/plugin-plugins:spawn')
 
-export async function fork(modulePath: string, args: string[] = [], {cwd, logLevel}: ExecOptions): Promise<Output> {
+export async function spawn(modulePath: string, args: string[] = [], {cwd, logLevel}: ExecOptions): Promise<Output> {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-    const forked = cpFork(modulePath, args, {
+    // On windows, the global path to npm could be .cmd, .exe, or .js. If it's a .js file, we need to run it with node.
+    if (process.platform === 'win32' && modulePath.endsWith('.js')) {
+      args.unshift(`"${modulePath}"`)
+      modulePath = 'node'
+    }
+
+    debug('modulePath', modulePath)
+    debug('args', args)
+    const spawned = cpSpawn(modulePath, args, {
       cwd,
       env: {
         ...npmRunPathEnv(),
@@ -27,15 +35,9 @@ export async function fork(modulePath: string, args: string[] = [], {cwd, logLev
         // break the install since the install location isn't a .git directory.
         HUSKY: '0',
       },
-      execArgv: process.execArgv
-        .join(' ')
-        // Remove --loader ts-node/esm from execArgv so that the subprocess doesn't fail if it can't find ts-node.
-        // The ts-node/esm loader isn't need to execute npm or yarn commands anyways.
-        .replace('--loader ts-node/esm', '')
-        .replace('--loader=ts-node/esm', '')
-        .split(' ')
-        .filter(Boolean),
-      stdio: [0, null, null, 'ipc'],
+      stdio: 'pipe',
+      windowsVerbatimArguments: true,
+      ...(process.platform === 'win32' && modulePath.toLowerCase().endsWith('.cmd') && {shell: true}),
     })
 
     const possibleLastLinesOfNpmInstall = ['up to date', 'added']
@@ -56,8 +58,8 @@ export async function fork(modulePath: string, args: string[] = [], {cwd, logLev
       return logLevel !== 'silent'
     }
 
-    forked.stderr?.setEncoding('utf8')
-    forked.stderr?.on('data', (d: Buffer) => {
+    spawned.stderr?.setEncoding('utf8')
+    spawned.stderr?.on('data', (d: Buffer) => {
       const output = d.toString().trim()
       stderr.push(output)
       if (shouldPrint(output)) {
@@ -66,8 +68,8 @@ export async function fork(modulePath: string, args: string[] = [], {cwd, logLev
       } else debug(output)
     })
 
-    forked.stdout?.setEncoding('utf8')
-    forked.stdout?.on('data', (d: Buffer) => {
+    spawned.stdout?.setEncoding('utf8')
+    spawned.stdout?.on('data', (d: Buffer) => {
       const output = d.toString().trim()
       stdout.push(output)
       if (shouldPrint(output)) {
@@ -76,8 +78,8 @@ export async function fork(modulePath: string, args: string[] = [], {cwd, logLev
       } else debug(output)
     })
 
-    forked.on('error', reject)
-    forked.on('exit', (code: number) => {
+    spawned.on('error', reject)
+    spawned.on('exit', (code: number) => {
       if (code === 0) {
         resolve({stderr, stdout})
       } else {
diff --git a/src/yarn.ts b/src/yarn.ts
index f70cf68b..b6aaba07 100644
--- a/src/yarn.ts
+++ b/src/yarn.ts
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ import makeDebug from 'debug'
 import {createRequire} from 'node:module'
 import {fileURLToPath} from 'node:url'
 
-import {ExecOptions, Output, fork} from './fork.js'
 import {LogLevel} from './log-level.js'
+import {ExecOptions, Output, spawn} from './spawn.js'
 
 const require = createRequire(import.meta.url)
 const debug = makeDebug('@oclif/plugin-plugins:yarn')
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export class Yarn {
 
     debug(`${options.cwd}: ${bin} ${args.join(' ')}`)
     try {
-      const output = await fork(bin, args, options)
+      const output = await spawn(bin, args, options)
       debug('yarn done')
       return output
     } catch (error: unknown) {
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ export class Yarn {
       this.bin = await which('yarn')
     }
 
-    if (this.bin) {
+    if (!this.bin) {
       throw new Errors.CLIError('yarn not found')
     }