diff --git a/src/main/providers/windows-shell-args.test.ts b/src/main/providers/windows-shell-args.test.ts
index 273763f70..3cf94c387 100644
--- a/src/main/providers/windows-shell-args.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/providers/windows-shell-args.test.ts
@@ -2,10 +2,6 @@ import { existsSync, mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
-import {
-  encodePowerShellCommand,
-  getPowerShellOsc133Bootstrap
-} from '../powershell-osc133-bootstrap'
 import {
   buildWslInteractiveLoginShellCommand,
   escapeWslShCommandForWindows
@@ -19,6 +15,15 @@ function expectedWslArgs(linuxCwd: string, distro?: string): string[] {
   return distro ? ['-d', distro, ...shellArgs] : shellArgs
 }
 
+function decodePowerShellCommand(result: ReturnType<typeof resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs>): string {
+  expect(result.shellArgs.slice(0, 3)).toEqual(['-NoLogo', '-NoExit', '-EncodedCommand'])
+  return Buffer.from(result.shellArgs[3] ?? '', 'base64').toString('utf16le')
+}
+
+function expectedPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand(cwdLiteral: string): string {
+  return `try { Set-Location -LiteralPath ${cwdLiteral} -ErrorAction Stop } catch { Write-Warning "Failed to restore working directory: $_" }`
+}
+
 describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
   let previousUserDataPath: string | undefined
   let userDataPath: string
@@ -90,14 +95,9 @@ describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
       'C:\\Users\\alice',
       'C:\\Users\\alice'
     )
-    expect(result.shellArgs).toEqual([
-      '-NoLogo',
-      '-NoExit',
-      '-EncodedCommand',
-      encodePowerShellCommand(getPowerShellOsc133Bootstrap())
-    ])
+    expect(result.shellArgs).toEqual(['-NoLogo', '-NoExit', '-EncodedCommand', expect.any(String)])
 
-    const command = Buffer.from(result.shellArgs[3] ?? '', 'base64').toString('utf16le')
+    const command = decodePowerShellCommand(result)
     const outputEncodingIndex = command.indexOf('[Console]::OutputEncoding')
     const opencodeRestoreIndex = command.indexOf(
       '$env:OPENCODE_CONFIG_DIR = $env:ORCA_OPENCODE_CONFIG_DIR'
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
     const ompExtensionIndex = command.indexOf('--extension $env:ORCA_OMP_STATUS_EXTENSION')
     const codexRestoreIndex = command.indexOf('$env:CODEX_HOME = $env:ORCA_CODEX_HOME')
     const promptIndex = command.indexOf('function Global:prompt')
+    const cwdRestoreIndex = command.indexOf(
+      expectedPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand("'C:\\Users\\alice'")
+    )
 
     expect(command).not.toContain('$PROFILE')
     expect(command).not.toContain('ORCA_PI_CODING_AGENT_DIR')
@@ -118,6 +121,7 @@ describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
     expect(codexRestoreIndex).toBeGreaterThan(outputEncodingIndex)
     expect(codexRestoreIndex).toBeGreaterThan(ompWrapperIndex)
     expect(promptIndex).toBeGreaterThan(codexRestoreIndex)
+    expect(cwdRestoreIndex).toBeGreaterThan(promptIndex)
     expect(command).toContain('Esc = [char]27')
     expect(command).toContain('Bel = [char]7')
     expect(command).toContain(')]133;D;$fakeExitCode$(')
@@ -134,6 +138,21 @@ describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
 
     expect(result.effectiveCwd).toBe('C:\\Users\\alice\\project')
     expect(result.validationCwd).toBe('C:\\Users\\alice\\project')
+    expect(decodePowerShellCommand(result)).toContain(
+      expectedPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand("'C:\\Users\\alice\\project'")
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('quotes the PowerShell cwd restore command literally', () => {
+    const result = resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs(
+      'powershell.exe',
+      "C:\\Users\\alice\\client's app",
+      'C:\\Users\\alice'
+    )
+
+    expect(decodePowerShellCommand(result)).toContain(
+      expectedPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand("'C:\\Users\\alice\\client''s app'")
+    )
   })
 
   it('embeds short PowerShell startup commands after the OSC 133 bootstrap', () => {
@@ -146,8 +165,9 @@ describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
     )
     expect(result.startupCommandDeliveredInShellArgs).toBe(true)
 
-    const command = Buffer.from(result.shellArgs[3] ?? '', 'base64').toString('utf16le')
+    const command = decodePowerShellCommand(result)
     expect(command).toContain('function Global:prompt')
+    expect(command).toContain(expectedPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand("'C:\\Users\\alice'"))
     expect(command.trimEnd().endsWith("& 'codex' '--no-alt-screen'")).toBe(true)
   })
 
@@ -163,7 +183,7 @@ describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
     )
 
     expect(result.startupCommandDeliveredInShellArgs).toBe(true)
-    const command = Buffer.from(result.shellArgs[3] ?? '', 'base64').toString('utf16le')
+    const command = decodePowerShellCommand(result)
     expect(command).toContain(`\n${startupCommand}`)
     expect(command.trimEnd().endsWith(startupCommand)).toBe(true)
   })
@@ -178,22 +198,16 @@ describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
     )
 
     expect(result.startupCommandDeliveredInShellArgs).toBeUndefined()
-    expect(result.shellArgs).toEqual([
-      '-NoLogo',
-      '-NoExit',
-      '-EncodedCommand',
-      encodePowerShellCommand(getPowerShellOsc133Bootstrap())
-    ])
+    expect(result.shellArgs).toEqual(['-NoLogo', '-NoExit', '-EncodedCommand', expect.any(String)])
+    expect(decodePowerShellCommand(result)).toContain(
+      expectedPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand("'C:\\Users\\alice'")
+    )
   })
 
   it('handles pwsh.exe (PowerShell Core) the same as Windows PowerShell', () => {
     const result = resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs('pwsh.exe', 'C:\\', 'C:\\Users\\alice')
-    expect(result.shellArgs).toEqual([
-      '-NoLogo',
-      '-NoExit',
-      '-EncodedCommand',
-      encodePowerShellCommand(getPowerShellOsc133Bootstrap())
-    ])
+    expect(result.shellArgs).toEqual(['-NoLogo', '-NoExit', '-EncodedCommand', expect.any(String)])
+    expect(decodePowerShellCommand(result)).toContain(expectedPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand("'C:\\'"))
   })
 
   it('starts Git Bash as an interactive login shell with UTF-8 console setup', () => {
@@ -362,12 +376,7 @@ describe('resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs', () => {
 
   it('is case-insensitive on the shell basename', () => {
     const result = resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs('PowerShell.EXE', 'C:\\', 'C:\\')
-    expect(result.shellArgs).toEqual([
-      '-NoLogo',
-      '-NoExit',
-      '-EncodedCommand',
-      encodePowerShellCommand(getPowerShellOsc133Bootstrap())
-    ])
+    expect(result.shellArgs).toEqual(['-NoLogo', '-NoExit', '-EncodedCommand', expect.any(String)])
   })
 })
 
diff --git a/src/main/providers/windows-shell-args.ts b/src/main/providers/windows-shell-args.ts
index 523aee72a..bde8a872e 100644
--- a/src/main/providers/windows-shell-args.ts
+++ b/src/main/providers/windows-shell-args.ts
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
   encodePowerShellCommand,
   getPowerShellOsc133Bootstrap
 } from '../powershell-osc133-bootstrap'
+import { quoteStartupArg } from '../../shared/tui-agent-startup-shell'
 
 const CMD_EXE_COMMAND_LINE_MAX_CHARS = 8191
 const STARTUP_COMMAND_TEXT_MAX_CHARS = 6000
@@ -80,11 +81,22 @@ function getCmdShellArgStartupCommand(command?: string): string | null {
  * Short startup commands are appended to the bootstrap and marked as delivered;
  * large payloads return the bootstrap alone so stdin delivery remains available.
  */
-function getPowerShellEncodedCommand(startupCommand?: string): {
+function getPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand(cwd: string): string {
+  return [
+    '',
+    '# Profiles can change location; restore the PTY cwd after profile loading.',
+    `try { Set-Location -LiteralPath ${quoteStartupArg(cwd, 'powershell')} -ErrorAction Stop } catch { Write-Warning "Failed to restore working directory: $_" }`
+  ].join('\n')
+}
+
+function getPowerShellEncodedCommand(
+  cwd: string,
+  startupCommand?: string
+): {
   encodedCommand: string
   startupCommandDeliveredInShellArgs?: boolean
 } {
-  const bootstrap = getPowerShellOsc133Bootstrap()
+  const bootstrap = `${getPowerShellOsc133Bootstrap()}${getPowerShellRestoreCwdCommand(cwd)}`
   if (!startupCommand || startupCommand.length > STARTUP_COMMAND_TEXT_MAX_CHARS) {
     return { encodedCommand: encodePowerShellCommand(bootstrap) }
   }
@@ -168,7 +180,7 @@ export function resolveWindowsShellLaunchArgs(
   }
 
   if (shellBasename === 'powershell.exe' || shellBasename === 'pwsh.exe') {
-    const powerShellCommand = getPowerShellEncodedCommand(startupCommand)
+    const powerShellCommand = getPowerShellEncodedCommand(nativeCwd, startupCommand)
     // Why: foreground-process status on Windows depends on OSC 133 C/D, and
     // PowerShell needs a prompt/readline bootstrap after profiles finish.
     return {