diff --git a/src/spawn.ts b/src/spawn.ts
index 27464995..3aa0bdeb 100644
--- a/src/spawn.ts
+++ b/src/spawn.ts
@@ -17,8 +17,33 @@ export type Output = {
 
 const debug = makeDebug('@oclif/plugin-plugins:spawn')
 
+/**
+ * With `windowsVerbatimArguments`, Node joins the arguments with spaces and does no quoting, so an
+ * argument containing whitespace reaches the child as several. Quote those the way
+ * `CommandLineToArgvW` expects, which is what libuv does when arguments are not verbatim.
+ */
+export function quoteWindowsArg(arg: string): string {
+  if ([...arg].every((char) => char !== '"' && char.trim() !== '')) return arg
+
+  // Backslashes are literal except before a quote, so double the ones that end up before one: an
+  // escaped quote inside the argument, or the closing quote.
+  let quoted = '"'
+  let backslashes = 0
+  for (const char of arg) {
+    if (char === '\\') {
+      backslashes++
+    } else {
+      quoted += '\\'.repeat(char === '"' ? backslashes * 2 + 1 : backslashes) + char
+      backslashes = 0
+    }
+  }
+
+  return `${quoted}${'\\'.repeat(backslashes * 2)}"`
+}
+
 export async function spawn(modulePath: string, args: string[] = [], {cwd, logLevel}: ExecOptions): Promise<Output> {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    if (process.platform === 'win32') args = args.map((arg) => quoteWindowsArg(arg))
     let argv0: string | undefined
     if (modulePath.endsWith('.js')) {
       const quote = process.platform === 'win32' ? `"${modulePath}"` : modulePath
diff --git a/test/spawn.test.ts b/test/spawn.test.ts
index 7754ca19..4f1875c3 100644
--- a/test/spawn.test.ts
+++ b/test/spawn.test.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import {tmpdir} from 'node:os'
 import path from 'node:path'
 import {fileURLToPath} from 'node:url'
 
-import {spawn} from '../src/spawn.js'
+import {quoteWindowsArg, spawn} from '../src/spawn.js'
 
 describe('spawn', () => {
   let tempDir: string
@@ -96,6 +96,26 @@ describe('spawn', () => {
     expect(output).to.include('|calc.exe')
   })
 
+  it('should pass an argument containing spaces as one argument', async () => {
+    // e.g. a version range: `npm install pkg@>=1.0.0 <2.0.0` must not also install `<2.0.0`
+    const script = path.join(tempDir, 'echo-args.js')
+    writeFileSync(script, 'console.log(JSON.stringify(process.argv.slice(2)))\n')
+    chmodSync(script, '755')
+    const args = ['@scope/pkg@>=1.0.0 <2.0.0', 'say "hi"', String.raw`C:\dir with space\\`, '--flag']
+
+    const result = await spawn(script, [...args], {cwd: tempDir, logLevel: 'silent'})
+
+    expect(JSON.parse(result.stdout.join(''))).to.deep.equal(args)
+  })
+
+  it('should quote Windows arguments only when they need it', () => {
+    expect(quoteWindowsArg('--flag')).to.equal('--flag')
+    expect(quoteWindowsArg(String.raw`C:\no\spaces`)).to.equal(String.raw`C:\no\spaces`)
+    expect(quoteWindowsArg('a b')).to.equal('"a b"')
+    expect(quoteWindowsArg('say "hi"')).to.equal(String.raw`"say \"hi\""`)
+    expect(quoteWindowsArg(String.raw`dir with space\\`)).to.equal(String.raw`"dir with space\\\\"`)
+  })
+
   it('should not modify non-.js module paths', async function () {
     if (process.platform === 'win32') return this.skip()
     const script = path.join(tempDir, 'test-bin')