diff --git a/libmamba/src/core/shell_init.cpp b/libmamba/src/core/shell_init.cpp
index 6aa3c34e2f..ec6c58bfcc 100644
--- a/libmamba/src/core/shell_init.cpp
+++ b/libmamba/src/core/shell_init.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include "mamba/core/util.hpp"
 #include "mamba/core/util_os.hpp"
 #include "mamba/util/build.hpp"
+#include "mamba/util/path_manip.hpp"
 #include "mamba/util/string.hpp"
 
 namespace mamba
@@ -533,21 +534,21 @@ namespace mamba
         {
             std::string contents = data_micromamba_sh;
             // Using /unix/like/paths on Unix shell (even on Windows)
-            util::replace_all(contents, "$MAMBA_EXE", exe.generic_string());
+            util::replace_all(contents, "$MAMBA_EXE", util::path_to_posix(exe.string()));
             return contents;
         }
         else if (shell == "csh")
         {
             std::string contents = data_micromamba_csh;
             // Using /unix/like/paths on Unix shell (even on Windows)
-            util::replace_all(contents, "$MAMBA_EXE", exe.generic_string());
+            util::replace_all(contents, "$MAMBA_EXE", util::path_to_posix(exe.string()));
             return contents;
         }
         else if (shell == "xonsh")
         {
             std::string contents = data_mamba_xsh;
             // Using /unix/like/paths on Unix shell (even on Windows)
-            util::replace_all(contents, "$MAMBA_EXE", exe.generic_string());
+            util::replace_all(contents, "$MAMBA_EXE", util::path_to_posix(exe.string()));
             return contents;
         }
         else if (shell == "powershell")
@@ -574,7 +575,7 @@ namespace mamba
         {
             std::string contents = data_mamba_fish;
             // Using /unix/like/paths on Unix shell (even on Windows)
-            util::replace_all(contents, "$MAMBA_EXE", exe.generic_string());
+            util::replace_all(contents, "$MAMBA_EXE", util::path_to_posix(exe.string()));
             return contents;
         }
         return "";
diff --git a/micromamba/tests/test_shell.py b/micromamba/tests/test_shell.py
index 5c8993a937..a2e972257f 100644
--- a/micromamba/tests/test_shell.py
+++ b/micromamba/tests/test_shell.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import platform
 import shutil
 import subprocess
-from pathlib import Path
+from pathlib import Path, PureWindowsPath
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ def test_hook(tmp_home, tmp_root_prefix, shell_type):
     res = helpers.shell("hook", "-s", shell_type)
 
     mamba_exe = helpers.get_umamba()
+    mamba_exe_posix = PureWindowsPath(mamba_exe).as_posix()
     # suspend long path support on Windows
     # if platform.system() == "Windows":
     # mamba_exe = f"\\\\?\\{mamba_exe}"
@@ -43,15 +44,15 @@ def test_hook(tmp_home, tmp_root_prefix, shell_type):
         assert not any(li.startswith("## EXPORTS ##") for li in lines)
         assert lines[2].startswith("## AFTER PARAM ####")
     elif shell_type in ("zsh", "bash", "posix"):
-        assert res.count(mamba_exe) == 3
+        assert res.count(mamba_exe_posix) == 3
     elif shell_type == "xonsh":
-        assert res.count(mamba_exe) == 8
+        assert res.count(mamba_exe_posix) == 8
     elif shell_type == "fish":
-        assert res.count(mamba_exe) == 5
+        assert res.count(mamba_exe_posix) == 5
     elif shell_type == "cmd.exe":
         assert res == ""
     elif shell_type == "tcsh":
-        assert res.count(mamba_exe) == 3
+        assert res.count(mamba_exe_posix) == 3
 
     res = helpers.shell("hook", "-s", shell_type, "--json")
     expected_keys = {"success", "operation", "context", "actions"}