diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a93bf897..de808894 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 - Windows configuration location has been moved from %USERPROFILE%\alacritty.yml
     to %APPDATA%\alacritty\alacritty.yml
+- Windows default shell is now PowerShell instead of cmd
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/alacritty_windows.yml b/alacritty_windows.yml
index ba764dfc..cdca685e 100644
--- a/alacritty_windows.yml
+++ b/alacritty_windows.yml
@@ -276,12 +276,11 @@ live_config_reload: true
 
 # Shell
 #
-# You can set `shell.program` to the path of your favorite shell, e.g. `/bin/fish`.
+# You can set `shell.program` to the path of your favorite shell, e.g. `cmd`.
 # Entries in `shell.args` are passed unmodified as arguments to the shell.
-shell:
-  program: cmd
-  #args:
-  #  - --login
+#shell:
+#  program: powershell
+#  args: []
 
 # Windows 10 ConPTY backend
 #
diff --git a/src/tty/windows/conpty.rs b/src/tty/windows/conpty.rs
index b16a61c4..755846e8 100644
--- a/src/tty/windows/conpty.rs
+++ b/src/tty/windows/conpty.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 
 use super::{process_should_exit, Pty, HANDLE};
 
-use std::env;
 use std::i16;
 use std::mem;
 use std::os::windows::io::IntoRawHandle;
@@ -212,7 +211,7 @@ pub fn new<'a>(
     }
 
     // Get process commandline
-    let default_shell = &Shell::new(env::var("COMSPEC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "cmd".into()));
+    let default_shell = &Shell::new("powershell");
     let shell = config.shell().unwrap_or(default_shell);
     let initial_command = options.command().unwrap_or(shell);
     let mut cmdline = initial_command.args().to_vec();
diff --git a/src/tty/windows/winpty.rs b/src/tty/windows/winpty.rs
index a3a45e39..9daa88d1 100644
--- a/src/tty/windows/winpty.rs
+++ b/src/tty/windows/winpty.rs
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ use std::io;
 use std::fs::OpenOptions;
 use std::os::windows::io::{FromRawHandle, IntoRawHandle};
 use std::os::windows::fs::OpenOptionsExt;
-use std::env;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::u16;
 
@@ -96,7 +95,7 @@ pub fn new<'a>(
     let (conin, conout) = (winpty.conin_name(), winpty.conout_name());
 
     // Get process commandline
-    let default_shell = &Shell::new(env::var("COMSPEC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "cmd".into()));
+    let default_shell = &Shell::new("powershell");
     let shell = config.shell().unwrap_or(default_shell);
     let initial_command = options.command().unwrap_or(shell);
     let mut cmdline = initial_command.args().to_vec();