diff --git a/src/main/shell-session/local-shell-session.ts b/src/main/shell-session/local-shell-session.ts
index 35a1369339..ed1208fcbd 100644
--- a/src/main/shell-session/local-shell-session.ts
+++ b/src/main/shell-session/local-shell-session.ts
@@ -31,8 +31,11 @@ export class LocalShellSession extends ShellSession {
     return [helmCli.getBinaryDir()];
   }
 
-  public async open() {
+  protected get cwd(): string | undefined {
+    return this.cluster.preferences?.terminalCWD;
+  }
 
+  public async open() {
     const env = await this.getCachedShellEnv();
     const shell = env.PTYSHELL;
     const args = await this.getShellArgs(shell);
diff --git a/src/main/shell-session/node-shell-session.ts b/src/main/shell-session/node-shell-session.ts
index 7542baecd6..aa8c14ba9b 100644
--- a/src/main/shell-session/node-shell-session.ts
+++ b/src/main/shell-session/node-shell-session.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ export class NodeShellSession extends ShellSession {
   protected podId = `node-shell-${uuid()}`;
   protected kc: KubeConfig;
 
+  protected get cwd(): string | undefined {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
   constructor(socket: WebSocket, cluster: Cluster, protected nodeName: string) {
     super(socket, cluster);
   }
diff --git a/src/main/shell-session/shell-session.ts b/src/main/shell-session/shell-session.ts
index 039caa44ce..4771ec8b77 100644
--- a/src/main/shell-session/shell-session.ts
+++ b/src/main/shell-session/shell-session.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
  * CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
  */
 
+import fse from "fs-extra";
 import type { Cluster } from "../cluster";
 import { Kubectl } from "../kubectl";
 import type * as WebSocket from "ws";
@@ -50,9 +51,7 @@ export abstract class ShellSession {
   protected kubectlBinDirP: Promise<string>;
   protected kubeconfigPathP: Promise<string>;
 
-  protected get cwd(): string | undefined {
-    return this.cluster.preferences?.terminalCWD;
-  }
+  protected abstract get cwd(): string | undefined;
 
   constructor(protected websocket: WebSocket, protected cluster: Cluster) {
     this.kubectl = new Kubectl(cluster.version);
@@ -60,10 +59,14 @@ export abstract class ShellSession {
     this.kubectlBinDirP = this.kubectl.binDir();
   }
 
-  open(shell: string, args: string[], env: Record<string, any>): void {
+  protected async open(shell: string, args: string[], env: Record<string, any>) {
+    const cwd = (this.cwd && await fse.pathExists(this.cwd))
+    	? this.cwd
+    	: env.HOME;
+
     this.shellProcess = pty.spawn(shell, args, {
       cols: 80,
-      cwd: this.cwd || env.HOME,
+      cwd,
       env,
       name: "xterm-256color",
       rows: 30,