diff --git a/packages/data-context/src/actions/MigrationActions.ts b/packages/data-context/src/actions/MigrationActions.ts
index d0d094b310af..a363e363d0ff 100644
--- a/packages/data-context/src/actions/MigrationActions.ts
+++ b/packages/data-context/src/actions/MigrationActions.ts
@@ -34,11 +34,11 @@ import {
 } from '../sources/migration'
 import { makeCoreData } from '../data'
 import { LegacyPluginsIpc } from '../data/LegacyPluginsIpc'
-import { hasTypeScriptInstalled } from '../util'
+import { hasTypeScriptInstalled, toPosix } from '../util'
 
 const debug = debugLib('cypress:data-context:MigrationActions')
 
-const tsNode = require.resolve('@packages/server/lib/plugins/child/register_ts_node')
+const tsNode = toPosix(require.resolve('@packages/server/lib/plugins/child/register_ts_node'))
 
 export function getConfigWithDefaults (legacyConfig: any) {
   const newConfig = _.cloneDeep(legacyConfig)
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ export async function processConfigViaLegacyPlugins (projectRoot: string, legacy
     // this matches the 9.x behavior, which is what we want for
     // processing legacy pluginsFile (we never supported `"type": "module") in 9.x.
     if (hasTypeScriptInstalled(projectRoot)) {
-      const tsNodeLoader = `--require ${tsNode}`
+      const tsNodeLoader = `--require "${tsNode}"`
 
       if (!childOptions.env) {
         childOptions.env = {}
diff --git a/packages/data-context/src/data/ProjectConfigIpc.ts b/packages/data-context/src/data/ProjectConfigIpc.ts
index 15023dac9547..a2125ae9844f 100644
--- a/packages/data-context/src/data/ProjectConfigIpc.ts
+++ b/packages/data-context/src/data/ProjectConfigIpc.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import fs from 'fs-extra'
 import path from 'path'
 import inspector from 'inspector'
 import debugLib from 'debug'
-import { autoBindDebug, hasTypeScriptInstalled } from '../util'
+import { autoBindDebug, hasTypeScriptInstalled, toPosix } from '../util'
 import _ from 'lodash'
 import { pathToFileURL } from 'url'
 
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ const debug = debugLib(`cypress:lifecycle:ProjectConfigIpc`)
 const CHILD_PROCESS_FILE_PATH = require.resolve('@packages/server/lib/plugins/child/require_async_child')
 
 const tsNodeEsm = pathToFileURL(require.resolve('ts-node/esm/transpile-only')).href
-const tsNode = require.resolve('@packages/server/lib/plugins/child/register_ts_node')
+const tsNode = toPosix(require.resolve('@packages/server/lib/plugins/child/register_ts_node'))
 
 export type IpcHandler = (ipc: ProjectConfigIpc) => void
 
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ export class ProjectConfigIpc extends EventEmitter {
       let resolved = false
 
       this._childProcess.on('error', (err) => {
+        debug('unhandled error in child process %s', err)
         this.handleChildProcessError(err, this, resolved, reject)
         reject(err)
       })
@@ -139,6 +140,7 @@ export class ProjectConfigIpc extends EventEmitter {
        * but it's not.
        */
       this.on('childProcess:unhandledError', (err) => {
+        debug('unhandled error in child process %s', err)
         this.handleChildProcessError(err, this, resolved, reject)
         reject(err)
       })
@@ -150,6 +152,7 @@ export class ProjectConfigIpc extends EventEmitter {
       })
 
       this.once('loadConfig:error', (err) => {
+        debug('error loading config %s', err)
         this.killChildProcess()
         reject(err)
       })
@@ -289,7 +292,7 @@ export class ProjectConfigIpc extends EventEmitter {
         // We do NOT use the `--loader` flag because we have some additional
         // custom logic for ts-node when used with CommonJS that needs to be evaluated
         // so we need to load and evaluate the hook first using the `--require` module API.
-        const tsNodeLoader = `--require ${tsNode}`
+        const tsNodeLoader = `--require "${tsNode}"`
 
         if (childOptions.env.NODE_OPTIONS) {
           childOptions.env.NODE_OPTIONS += ` ${tsNodeLoader}`
@@ -302,9 +305,7 @@ export class ProjectConfigIpc extends EventEmitter {
       // TODO: Consider using userland `esbuild` with Node's --loader API to handle ESM.
     }
 
-    const proc = fork(CHILD_PROCESS_FILE_PATH, configProcessArgs, childOptions)
-
-    return proc
+    return fork(CHILD_PROCESS_FILE_PATH, configProcessArgs, childOptions)
   }
 
   private handleChildProcessError (err: any, ipc: ProjectConfigIpc, resolved: boolean, reject: (reason?: any) => void) {
diff --git a/packages/launchpad/cypress/e2e/migration.cy.ts b/packages/launchpad/cypress/e2e/migration.cy.ts
index 56d7c6a47e8f..300390f796ce 100644
--- a/packages/launchpad/cypress/e2e/migration.cy.ts
+++ b/packages/launchpad/cypress/e2e/migration.cy.ts
@@ -1546,8 +1546,8 @@ describe('Migration', { viewportWidth: 1200, retries: { openMode: 0, runMode: 2
 })
 
 describe('Migrate custom config files', () => {
-  it('completes journey for migration-custom-config-file-root-level', () => {
-    startMigrationFor('migration-custom-config-file-root-level', ['--config-file', 'customConfig.json'])
+  it('completes journey for migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces', () => {
+    startMigrationFor('migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces', ['--config-file', 'customConfig.json'])
 
     // defaults, rename all the things
     // can rename integration->e2e
diff --git a/packages/launchpad/cypress/e2e/open-mode.cy.ts b/packages/launchpad/cypress/e2e/open-mode.cy.ts
index 29f78ab15e55..565ba42cbc53 100644
--- a/packages/launchpad/cypress/e2e/open-mode.cy.ts
+++ b/packages/launchpad/cypress/e2e/open-mode.cy.ts
@@ -242,4 +242,11 @@ describe('Launchpad: Open Mode', () => {
     cy.get('body').should('not.contain.text', 'Your project does not contain a default supportFile.')
     cy.get('h1').should('contain', 'Choose a Browser')
   })
+
+  it('opens project with spaces in path', () => {
+    cy.scaffoldProject('simple with spaces')
+    cy.openProject('simple with spaces', ['--e2e'])
+    cy.visitLaunchpad()
+    cy.get('h1').should('contain', 'Choose a Browser')
+  })
 })
diff --git a/scripts/run-webpack.js b/scripts/run-webpack.js
index 150aca60edd7..1d179c4525e8 100644
--- a/scripts/run-webpack.js
+++ b/scripts/run-webpack.js
@@ -20,4 +20,13 @@ if (process.versions && semver.satisfies(process.versions.node, '>=17.0.0') && s
   NODE_OPTIONS = `${NODE_OPTIONS} --openssl-legacy-provider`
 }
 
-cp.execSync(`node ${webpackCli} ${process.argv.slice(2).join(' ')}`, { stdio: 'inherit', env: { ...process.env, NODE_OPTIONS } })
+function buildCommand () {
+  const file = process.argv.slice(2).join(' ') ?? ''
+  let program = `node "${webpackCli}"`
+
+  return file ? `${program } "${file}"` : program
+}
+
+const program = buildCommand()
+
+cp.execSync(program, { stdio: 'inherit', env: { ...process.env, NODE_OPTIONS } })
diff --git a/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/README.md b/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/README.md
rename to system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/README.md
diff --git a/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/customConfig.json b/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/customConfig.json
similarity index 100%
rename from system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/customConfig.json
rename to system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/customConfig.json
diff --git a/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/cypress/integration/foo.spec.js b/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/cypress/integration/foo.spec.js
similarity index 100%
rename from system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/cypress/integration/foo.spec.js
rename to system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/cypress/integration/foo.spec.js
diff --git a/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/cypress/plugins/index.js b/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/cypress/plugins/index.js
similarity index 100%
rename from system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/cypress/plugins/index.js
rename to system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/cypress/plugins/index.js
diff --git a/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/cypress/support/index.ts b/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/cypress/support/index.ts
similarity index 100%
rename from system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/cypress/support/index.ts
rename to system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/cypress/support/index.ts
diff --git a/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/expected-cypress.config.js b/system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/expected-cypress.config.js
similarity index 100%
rename from system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level/expected-cypress.config.js
rename to system-tests/projects/migration-custom-config-file-root-level spaces/expected-cypress.config.js
diff --git a/system-tests/projects/simple with spaces/cypress.config.js b/system-tests/projects/simple with spaces/cypress.config.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..93b46ace1929
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system-tests/projects/simple with spaces/cypress.config.js	
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+module.exports = {
+  e2e: {
+    supportFile: false,
+    setupNodeEvents (on, config) {
+      // implement node event listeners here
+    },
+  },
+}
diff --git a/system-tests/projects/simple with spaces/package.json b/system-tests/projects/simple with spaces/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8a5a20589141
--- /dev/null
+++ b/system-tests/projects/simple with spaces/package.json	
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "projectFixtureDirectory": "simple_passing"
+}
\ No newline at end of file