diff --git a/share/spack/setup-env.sh b/share/spack/setup-env.sh
index a792127b29d..6cabf40594b 100644
--- a/share/spack/setup-env.sh
+++ b/share/spack/setup-env.sh
@@ -232,6 +232,10 @@ _spack_determine_shell() {
         # If procfs is present this seems a more reliable
         # way to detect the current shell
         _sp_exe=$(readlink /proc/$$/exe)
+        # Qemu emulation has _sp_exe point to the emulator
+        if [ "${_sp_exe##*qemu*}" != "${_sp_exe}" ]; then
+            _sp_exe=$(cat /proc/$$/comm)
+        fi
         # Shell may contain number, like zsh5 instead of zsh
         basename ${_sp_exe} | tr -d '0123456789'
     elif [ -n "${BASH:-}" ]; then