diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/external-executor.ts b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/external-executor.ts
index 5093ab6c8a1f..05a976583cb5 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/runtime/external-executor.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/runtime/external-executor.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import vm from 'node:vm'
 import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from 'node:url'
 import { dirname } from 'node:path'
-import { statSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { existsSync, statSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { extname, join, normalize } from 'pathe'
 import { getCachedData, isNodeBuiltin, setCacheData } from 'vite-node/utils'
 import type { RuntimeRPC } from '../types/rpc'
@@ -188,6 +188,14 @@ export class ExternalModulesExecutor {
   private async createModule(identifier: string): Promise<VMModule> {
     const { type, url, path } = this.getModuleInformation(identifier)
 
+    // create ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND on our own since latest NodeJS's import.meta.resolve doesn't throw on non-existing namespace or path
+    // https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/49038
+    if ((type === 'module' || type === 'commonjs') && !existsSync(path)) {
+      const error = new Error(`Cannot find module '${path}'`)
+      ;(error as any).code = 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND'
+      throw error
+    }
+
     switch (type) {
       case 'data':
         return this.esm.createDataModule(identifier)
diff --git a/test/vm-threads/src/external/not-found.js b/test/vm-threads/src/external/not-found.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2348ffd8441f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/vm-threads/src/external/not-found.js
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+export async function importPackage() {
+  await import('@vitest/non-existing-package')
+}
+
+export async function importPath() {
+  await import('./non-existing-path')
+}
+
+export async function importBuiltin() {
+  await import('node:non-existing-builtin')
+}
+
+export async function importNamespace() {
+  await import('non-existing-namespace:xyz')
+}
diff --git a/test/vm-threads/test/not-found.test.ts b/test/vm-threads/test/not-found.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d9a84d13a4b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/vm-threads/test/not-found.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+// @ts-expect-error untyped
+import * as notFound from '../src/external/not-found.js'
+
+it('path', async () => {
+  await expect(() => notFound.importPath()).rejects.toMatchObject({
+    code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
+    message: expect.stringMatching(/Cannot find module '.*?non-existing-path'/),
+  })
+})
+
+// NodeJs's import.meta.resolve throws ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND error only this case.
+// For other cases, similar errors are fabricated by Vitest to mimic NodeJs's behavior.
+it('package', async () => {
+  await expect(() => notFound.importPackage()).rejects.toMatchObject({
+    code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
+    message: expect.stringContaining('Cannot find package \'@vitest/non-existing-package\''),
+  })
+})
+
+it('builtin', async () => {
+  await expect(() => notFound.importBuiltin()).rejects.toMatchObject({
+    code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
+    message: 'Cannot find module \'node:non-existing-builtin\'',
+  })
+})
+
+// this test fails before node 20.3.0 since it throws a different error (cf. https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/47824)
+// > Only URLs with a scheme in: file and data are supported by the default ESM loader. Received protocol 'non-existing-namespace:'
+it('namespace', async () => {
+  await expect(() => notFound.importNamespace()).rejects.toMatchObject({
+    code: 'ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND',
+    message: 'Cannot find module \'non-existing-namespace:xyz\'',
+  })
+})