diff --git a/pkg/remote/connutil.go b/pkg/remote/connutil.go
index 263e3128..28d9174d 100644
--- a/pkg/remote/connutil.go
+++ b/pkg/remote/connutil.go
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ func GetWshVersion(client *ssh.Client) (string, error) {
 }
 
 func GetWshPath(client *ssh.Client) string {
-	defaultPath := filepath.Join("~", ".waveterm", "bin", "wsh")
+	defaultPath := "~/.waveterm/bin/wsh"
 
 	session, err := client.NewSession()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -96,6 +96,18 @@ func GetWshPath(client *ssh.Client) string {
 		return strings.TrimSpace(string(out))
 	}
 
+	// check cmd on windows since it requires an absolute path with backslashes
+	session, err = client.NewSession()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Printf("unable to detect client's wsh path. using default. error: %v", err)
+		return defaultPath
+	}
+
+	out, cmdErr := session.Output("(dir 2>&1 *``|echo %userprofile%\\.waveterm%\\.waveterm\\bin\\wsh.exe);&<# rem #>echo none") //todo
+	if cmdErr == nil && strings.TrimSpace(string(out)) != "none" {
+		return strings.TrimSpace(string(out))
+	}
+
 	// no custom install, use default path
 	return defaultPath
 }
@@ -279,6 +291,9 @@ func CpHostToRemote(client *ssh.Client, sourcePath string, destPath string) erro
 
 func InstallClientRcFiles(client *ssh.Client) error {
 	path := GetWshPath(client)
+	log.Printf("path to wsh searched is: %s", path)
+	log.Printf("in bytes is: %v", []byte(path))
+	log.Printf("in bytes expected would be: %v", []byte("~/.waveterm/bin/wsh"))
 
 	session, err := client.NewSession()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/util/shellutil/shellutil.go b/pkg/util/shellutil/shellutil.go
index 858b8852..bf5a48f1 100644
--- a/pkg/util/shellutil/shellutil.go
+++ b/pkg/util/shellutil/shellutil.go
@@ -268,6 +268,9 @@ func initCustomShellStartupFilesInternal() error {
 		return nil
 	}
 	wshDstPath := filepath.Join(binDir, "wsh")
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		wshDstPath = wshDstPath + ".exe"
+	}
 	err = utilfn.AtomicRenameCopy(wshDstPath, wshFullPath, 0755)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error copying wsh binary to bin: %v", err)