diff --git a/vpython.bat b/vpython.bat
index 8aaf929751..ca5fe39ba1 100644
--- a/vpython.bat
+++ b/vpython.bat
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@
 :: found in the LICENSE file.
 
 call "%~dp0\cipd_bin_setup.bat" > nul 2>&1
-"%~dp0\.cipd_bin\vpython.exe" %*
+"%~dp0\.cipd_bin\vpython.exe" -vpython-interpreter "%~dp0\python.bat" %*
diff --git a/vpython3 b/vpython3
index bc31333e1c..5b888a30fc 100755
--- a/vpython3
+++ b/vpython3
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ if [[ $MINGW != 0 && $DEPOT_TOOLS_BOOTSTRAP_PYTHON3 != 0 ]]; then
     bootstrap_python3
   fi
   PYTHON3_BIN_RELDIR="$base_dir/$(cat $base_dir/python3_bin_reldir.txt | xargs echo)"
-  PATH="$PYTHON3_BIN_RELDIR":"$PYTHON3_BIN_RELDIR/Scripts":"$PATH"
+  exec "$base_dir/.cipd_bin/vpython3" -vpython-interpreter  "$PYTHON3_BIN_RELDIR/bin/python3" "$@"
+else
+	exec "$base_dir/.cipd_bin/vpython3" "$@"
 fi
-
-exec "$base_dir/.cipd_bin/vpython3" "$@"
diff --git a/vpython3.bat b/vpython3.bat
index 3b65e68ee9..5be8fd02be 100644
--- a/vpython3.bat
+++ b/vpython3.bat
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ for /f %%i in (%~dp0python3_bin_reldir.txt) do set PYTHON3_BIN_RELDIR=%%i
 set PATH=%~dp0%PYTHON3_BIN_RELDIR%;%PATH%
 
 call "%~dp0\cipd_bin_setup.bat" > nul 2>&1
-"%~dp0\.cipd_bin\vpython3.exe" %*
+"%~dp0\.cipd_bin\vpython3.exe" -vpython-interpreter "%~dp0\python3.bat" %*