diff --git a/test/bin/windows-shims.js b/test/bin/windows-shims.js
index 9ee8d9a0854c6..5fa6ff142b737 100644
--- a/test/bin/windows-shims.js
+++ b/test/bin/windows-shims.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 const t = require('tap')
 const { spawnSync } = require('child_process')
 const { resolve, join, extname, basename, sep } = require('path')
-const { readFileSync, chmodSync, readdirSync, rmSync, statSync } = require('fs')
+const { copyFileSync, readFileSync, chmodSync, readdirSync, rmSync, statSync } = require('fs')
 const Diff = require('diff')
 const { sync: which } = require('which')
 const { version } = require('../../package.json')
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ t.test('node-gyp', t => {
 t.test('run shims', t => {
   const path = t.testdir({
     ...SHIMS,
-    'node.exe': NODE,
     // simulate the state where one version of npm is installed
     // with node, but we should load the globally installed one
     'global-prefix': {
@@ -109,6 +108,16 @@ t.test('run shims', t => {
     },
   })
 
+  // hacky fix to decrease flakes of this test from `NOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rmdir`
+  // this should get better in tap@18 and we can try removing it then
+  copyFileSync(process.execPath, join(path, 'node.exe'))
+  t.teardown(async () => {
+    rmSync(join(path, 'node.exe'))
+    await new Promise(res => setTimeout(res, 100))
+    // this is superstition
+    rmSync(join(path, 'node.exe'), { force: true })
+  })
+
   const spawnPath = (cmd, args, { log, stdioString = true, ...opts } = {}) => {
     if (cmd.endsWith('bash.exe')) {
       // only cygwin *requires* the -l, but the others are ok with it