diff --git a/libcontainerd/utils_windows.go b/libcontainerd/utils_windows.go
index 2126f6457f..70e77bb812 100644
--- a/libcontainerd/utils_windows.go
+++ b/libcontainerd/utils_windows.go
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import (
 func setupEnvironmentVariables(a []string) map[string]string {
 	r := make(map[string]string)
 	for _, s := range a {
-		arr := strings.Split(s, "=")
+		arr := strings.SplitN(s, "=", 2)
 		if len(arr) == 2 {
 			r[arr[0]] = arr[1]
 		}
diff --git a/libcontainerd/utils_windows_test.go b/libcontainerd/utils_windows_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f3679bfb71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libcontainerd/utils_windows_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+package libcontainerd
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestEnvironmentParsing(t *testing.T) {
+	env := []string{"foo=bar", "car=hat", "a=b=c"}
+	result := setupEnvironmentVariables(env)
+	if len(result) != 3 || result["foo"] != "bar" || result["car"] != "hat" || result["a"] != "b=c" {
+		t.Fatalf("Expected map[foo:bar car:hat a:b=c], got %v", result)
+	}
+}