diff --git a/smoke-tests/tap-snapshots/test/index.js.test.cjs b/smoke-tests/tap-snapshots/test/index.js.test.cjs
index 4c02dc0443ee8..de87748529e5f 100644
--- a/smoke-tests/tap-snapshots/test/index.js.test.cjs
+++ b/smoke-tests/tap-snapshots/test/index.js.test.cjs
@@ -32,13 +32,13 @@ All commands:
     unstar, update, version, view, whoami
 
 Specify configs in the ini-formatted file:
-    {CWD}/{TESTDIR}/project/.npmrc
+    {NPM}/{TESTDIR}/project/.npmrc
 or on the command line via: npm <command> --key=value
 
 More configuration info: npm help config
 Configuration fields: npm help 7 config
 
-npm {CWD}
+npm {NPM}
 `
 
 exports[`test/index.js TAP basic npm ci > should throw mismatch deps in lock file error 1`] = `
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ project@1.0.0
 `
 
 exports[`test/index.js TAP basic npm init > should have successful npm init result 1`] = `
-Wrote to {CWD}/{TESTDIR}/project/package.json:
+Wrote to {NPM}/{TESTDIR}/project/package.json:
 
 {
   "name": "project",
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ Object {
 `
 
 exports[`test/index.js TAP basic npm ls > should have expected ls output 1`] = `
-project@1.0.0 {CWD}/{TESTDIR}/project
+project@1.0.0 {NPM}/{TESTDIR}/project
 +-- abbrev@1.0.4
 \`-- promise-all-reject-late@5.0.0
 `
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ exports[`test/index.js TAP basic npm pkg set scripts > should have expected set-
 `
 
 exports[`test/index.js TAP basic npm prefix > should have expected prefix output 1`] = `
-{CWD}/{TESTDIR}/project
+{NPM}/{TESTDIR}/project
 `
 
 exports[`test/index.js TAP basic npm run-script > should have expected run-script output 1`] = `
diff --git a/smoke-tests/test/fixtures/setup.js b/smoke-tests/test/fixtures/setup.js
index 596ec4872b5e0..4291006b435e0 100644
--- a/smoke-tests/test/fixtures/setup.js
+++ b/smoke-tests/test/fixtures/setup.js
@@ -32,19 +32,32 @@ const testdirHelper = (obj) => {
 }
 
 const getSpawnArgs = async () => {
-  const cliBin = join('bin', 'npm-cli.js')
+  const cliBin = join('bin', 'npm')
+  const cliJsBin = join('bin', 'npm-cli.js')
+  const npmLinks = await which('npm', { all: true })
+  const npmPaths = await Promise.all(npmLinks.map(npm => fs.realpath(npm)))
+
+  const cleanNpmPaths = [...new Set([
+    CLI_ROOT,
+    join(CLI_ROOT, cliBin),
+    join(CLI_ROOT, cliJsBin),
+    ...npmLinks,
+    ...npmPaths,
+    ...npmPaths.map(n => n.replace(sep + cliBin, '')),
+    ...npmPaths.map(n => n.replace(sep + cliJsBin, '')),
+  ])]
 
   if (SMOKE_PUBLISH_NPM) {
     return {
       command: ['npm'],
-      NPM: await which('npm').then(p => fs.realpath(p).replace(sep + cliBin)),
+      NPM: cleanNpmPaths,
     }
   }
 
   return {
-    command: [process.execPath, join(CLI_ROOT, cliBin)],
+    command: [process.execPath, join(CLI_ROOT, cliJsBin)],
     NODE: process.execPath,
-    NPM: join(CLI_ROOT, cliBin),
+    NPM: cleanNpmPaths,
   }
 }
 
@@ -87,17 +100,24 @@ module.exports = async (t, { testdir = {}, debug } = {}) => {
     t.strictSame(registry.nock.activeMocks(), [], 'no active mocks after each')
   })
 
-  const { command, ...spawnPaths } = await getSpawnArgs()
-  const cleanPaths = Object.entries({ ...spawnPaths, CWD: CLI_ROOT })
+  const debugLog = debug || CI ? (...a) => console.error(...a) : () => {}
+  const { command, ...spawnPaths } = await getSpawnArgs({ log: debugLog })
+  const cleanPaths = Object.entries(spawnPaths)
 
   const cleanOutput = s => {
     // sometimes we print normalized paths in snapshots regardless of
     // platform so replace those first then replace platform style paths
     for (const [key, value] of cleanPaths) {
-      s = s.split(normalizePath(value)).join(`{${key}}`)
+      const values = [].concat(value)
+      for (const v of values) {
+        s = s.split(normalizePath(v)).join(`{${key}}`)
+      }
     }
     for (const [key, value] of cleanPaths) {
-      s = s.split(value).join(`{${key}}`)
+      const values = [].concat(value)
+      for (const v of values) {
+        s = s.split(v).join(`{${key}}`)
+      }
     }
     return s
       .split(relative(CLI_ROOT, t.testdirName)).join('{TESTDIR}')
@@ -110,7 +130,7 @@ module.exports = async (t, { testdir = {}, debug } = {}) => {
       .replace(/^.*debug-[0-9]+.log$/gm, '')
       .replace(/in \d+ms$/gm, 'in {TIME}')
   }
-  const log = debug || CI ? (...a) => console.error(cleanOutput(a.join(' '))) : () => {}
+  const log = (...a) => debugLog(cleanOutput(a.join(' ')))
   t.cleanSnapshot = cleanOutput
 
   const npm = async (...args) => {