diff --git a/lib/std/Io/Threaded.zig b/lib/std/Io/Threaded.zig
index 0feec928fca854237041a140b644a38e0bd1c1e4..60be4a8d4c8211d9045e20ee291fab0541f441bb 100644
--- a/lib/std/Io/Threaded.zig
+++ b/lib/std/Io/Threaded.zig
@@ -15193,7 +15193,26 @@ fn processSpawnWindows(userdata: ?*anyopaque, options: process.SpawnOptions) pro
     defer arena_allocator.deinit();
     const arena = arena_allocator.allocator();
 
-    const cwd_w = if (options.cwd) |cwd| try std.unicode.wtf8ToWtf16LeAllocZ(arena, cwd) else null;
+    const cwd_w = cwd_w: {
+        if (options.cwd_dir) |cwd_dir| {
+            var dir_path_buffer = try arena.alloc(u16, windows.PATH_MAX_WIDE + 1);
+            // TODO move GetFinalPathNameByHandle logic into std.Io.Threaded and add cancel checks
+            try Thread.checkCancel();
+            const dir_path = try windows.GetFinalPathNameByHandle(
+                cwd_dir.handle,
+                .{},
+                dir_path_buffer[0..windows.PATH_MAX_WIDE],
+            );
+            dir_path_buffer[dir_path.len] = 0;
+            // Shrink the allocation down to just the path buffer + sentinel
+            dir_path_buffer = try arena.realloc(dir_path_buffer, dir_path.len + 1);
+            break :cwd_w dir_path_buffer[0..dir_path.len :0];
+        } else if (options.cwd) |cwd| {
+            break :cwd_w try std.unicode.wtf8ToWtf16LeAllocZ(arena, cwd);
+        } else {
+            break :cwd_w null;
+        }
+    };
     const cwd_w_ptr = if (cwd_w) |cwd| cwd.ptr else null;
 
     const maybe_envp_buf = if (options.environ_map) |environ_map| try environ_map.createBlockWindows(arena) else null;
@@ -15204,16 +15223,13 @@ fn processSpawnWindows(userdata: ?*anyopaque, options: process.SpawnOptions) pro
 
     // The cwd provided by options is in effect when choosing the executable
     // path to match POSIX semantics.
-    var cwd_path_w_needs_free = false;
     const cwd_path_w = x: {
         // If the app name is absolute, then we need to use its dirname as the cwd
         if (app_name_is_absolute) {
-            cwd_path_w_needs_free = true;
             const dir = Dir.path.dirname(app_name_wtf8).?;
             break :x try std.unicode.wtf8ToWtf16LeAllocZ(arena, dir);
-        } else if (options.cwd) |cwd| {
-            cwd_path_w_needs_free = true;
-            break :x try std.unicode.wtf8ToWtf16LeAllocZ(arena, cwd);
+        } else if (cwd_w) |cwd| {
+            break :x cwd;
         } else {
             break :x &[_:0]u16{}; // empty for cwd
         }
diff --git a/lib/std/process.zig b/lib/std/process.zig
index 3b5a0ecebd5e38ced3748bd0a012adc6d1d6d0a2..d4e5e689316db4d356c25362bfae6b0aea844f18 100644
--- a/lib/std/process.zig
+++ b/lib/std/process.zig
@@ -359,6 +359,9 @@ pub const SpawnError = error{
     /// children of the calling process and the child had already performed an
     /// image replacement.
     ProcessAlreadyExec,
+    /// On Windows, the volume does not contain a recognized file system. File
+    /// system drivers might not be loaded, or the volume may be corrupt.
+    UnrecognizedVolume,
 } || Io.Dir.PathNameError || Io.Cancelable || Io.UnexpectedError;
 
 pub const SpawnOptions = struct {