diff --git a/tests/test_node_bootstrap_bash.py b/tests/test_node_bootstrap_bash.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..737bde53b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_node_bootstrap_bash.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+"""The node-bootstrap spawns must use ``_find_bash``, never a bare ``"bash"`` argv: on Windows
+``CreateProcess`` resolves the bare name to System32's WSL launcher (#116818)."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import subprocess
+
+import pytest
+
+import hermes_constants
+from hermes_cli import main_tui_launch
+from tools.environments import local
+
+
+def _drive_node_bootstrap():
+    return hermes_constants._run_node_bootstrap("ensure_node", timeout=5)
+
+
+def _drive_tui_node():
+    return main_tui_launch._ensure_tui_node()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("drive", [_drive_node_bootstrap, _drive_tui_node], ids=["node_bootstrap", "tui_node"])
+def test_node_bootstrap_spawns_resolved_bash(monkeypatch, tmp_path, drive):
+    fixture_bash = str(tmp_path / "git" / "bin" / "bash.exe")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(local, "_find_bash", lambda: fixture_bash)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(main_tui_launch.shutil, "which", lambda name: None)  # force the bootstrap path
+    monkeypatch.delenv("HERMES_SKIP_NODE_BOOTSTRAP", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(hermes_constants, "_NODE_BOOTSTRAP_SCRIPT", tmp_path / "node-bootstrap.sh")
+    (tmp_path / "node-bootstrap.sh").write_text("", encoding="utf-8")
+    argvs = []
+
+    def fake_run(argv, **kwargs):
+        argvs.append(list(argv))
+        return subprocess.CompletedProcess(argv, 0, stdout="", stderr="")
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(subprocess, "run", fake_run)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(main_tui_launch.subprocess, "run", fake_run)
+
+    drive()
+
+    assert [argv[0] for argv in argvs] == [fixture_bash]