diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5c00c6abd23..3984f2b1216 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -17,3 +17,6 @@
 
 .venv
 /poetry.toml
+
+# Ignore Python bytecode and cache directories
+__pycache__/
diff --git a/src/poetry/console/commands/env/activate.py b/src/poetry/console/commands/env/activate.py
index 3d6254b1011..8ac236fc17d 100644
--- a/src/poetry/console/commands/env/activate.py
+++ b/src/poetry/console/commands/env/activate.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def handle(self) -> int:
         env = EnvManager(self.poetry).get()
 
         try:
-            shell, _ = shellingham.detect_shell()
+            shell, *_ = shellingham.detect_shell()
         except shellingham.ShellDetectionFailure:
             shell = ""
 
@@ -41,30 +41,39 @@ def handle(self) -> int:
         )
 
     def _get_activate_command(self, env: Env, shell: str) -> str:
-        if shell == "fish":
-            command, filename = "source", "activate.fish"
-        elif shell == "nu":
-            command, filename = "overlay use", "activate.nu"
-        elif shell in ["csh", "tcsh"]:
-            command, filename = "source", "activate.csh"
-        elif shell in ["powershell", "pwsh"]:
-            command, filename = ".", "activate.ps1"
+        shell_configs = {
+            "fish": ("source", "activate.fish"),
+            "nu": ("overlay use", "activate.nu"),
+            "csh": ("source", "activate.csh"),
+            "tcsh": ("source", "activate.csh"),
+            "powershell": (".", "activate.ps1"),
+            "pwsh": (".", "activate.ps1"),
+            "cmd": (".", "activate.bat"),
+        }
+
+        command, filename = shell_configs.get(shell, ("source", "activate"))
+
+        activation_script = env.bin_dir / filename
+
+        if not activation_script.exists():
+            if shell == "cmd" and not WINDOWS:
+                fallback_script = env.bin_dir / "activate"
+                if fallback_script.exists():
+                    return f"source {self._quote(str(fallback_script), 'bash')}"
+            return ""
+
+        if shell in ["powershell", "pwsh"]:
+            return f'& "{activation_script}"'
         elif shell == "cmd":
-            command, filename = ".", "activate.bat"
+            return f'"{activation_script}"'
         else:
-            command, filename = "source", "activate"
-
-        if (activation_script := env.bin_dir / filename).exists():
-            if WINDOWS:
-                return f"{self._quote(str(activation_script), shell)}"
             return f"{command} {self._quote(str(activation_script), shell)}"
-        return ""
 
     @staticmethod
     def _quote(command: str, shell: str) -> str:
-        if WINDOWS:
-            if shell == "cmd":
-                return f'"{command}"'
-            if shell in ["powershell", "pwsh"]:
-                return f'& "{command}"'
-        return shlex.quote(command)
+        if WINDOWS and shell not in ["powershell", "pwsh", "cmd"]:
+            return shlex.quote(command)
+        elif shell in {"powershell", "pwsh", "cmd"}:
+            return command
+        else:
+            return shlex.quote(command)
diff --git a/tests/console/commands/env/test_activate.py b/tests/console/commands/env/test_activate.py
index b4661348e67..eba1dd420ba 100644
--- a/tests/console/commands/env/test_activate.py
+++ b/tests/console/commands/env/test_activate.py
@@ -77,6 +77,118 @@ def test_env_activate_prints_correct_script_on_windows(
     assert line == f'{prefix}"{tmp_venv.bin_dir / ext!s}"'
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "shell, ext, expected_prefix",
+    (
+        ("cmd", "activate.bat", ""),
+        ("pwsh", "activate.ps1", "& "),
+        ("powershell", "activate.ps1", "& "),
+    ),
+)
+@pytest.mark.skipif(not WINDOWS, reason="Only Windows shells")
+def test_env_activate_windows_shells_get_quoted_path_only(
+    tmp_venv: VirtualEnv,
+    mocker: MockerFixture,
+    tester: CommandTester,
+    shell: str,
+    ext: str,
+    expected_prefix: str,
+) -> None:
+    mocker.patch("shellingham.detect_shell", return_value=(shell, None))
+    mocker.patch("poetry.utils.env.EnvManager.get", return_value=tmp_venv)
+
+    tester.execute()
+
+    line = tester.io.fetch_output().rstrip("\n")
+    expected = f'{expected_prefix}"{tmp_venv.bin_dir / ext!s}"'
+    assert line == expected
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "shell, command, ext",
+    (
+        ("bash", "source", ""),
+        ("zsh", "source", ""),
+        ("fish", "source", ".fish"),
+        ("nu", "overlay use", ".nu"),
+        pytest.param(
+            "csh",
+            "source",
+            ".csh",
+            marks=pytest.mark.skipif(
+                WINDOWS, reason="csh activator not created on Windows"
+            ),
+        ),
+        pytest.param(
+            "tcsh",
+            "source",
+            ".csh",
+            marks=pytest.mark.skipif(
+                WINDOWS, reason="tcsh activator not created on Windows"
+            ),
+        ),
+        ("sh", "source", ""),
+    ),
+)
+def test_env_activate_unix_shells_get_command_with_path(
+    tmp_venv: VirtualEnv,
+    mocker: MockerFixture,
+    tester: CommandTester,
+    shell: str,
+    command: str,
+    ext: str,
+) -> None:
+    mocker.patch("shellingham.detect_shell", return_value=(shell, None))
+    mocker.patch("poetry.utils.env.EnvManager.get", return_value=tmp_venv)
+
+    tester.execute()
+
+    line = tester.io.fetch_output().rstrip("\n")
+    expected_path = f"{tmp_venv.bin_dir}/activate{ext}"
+    if WINDOWS:
+        import shlex
+
+        quoted_path = shlex.quote(str(tmp_venv.bin_dir / f"activate{ext}"))
+        expected = f"{command} {quoted_path}"
+    else:
+        expected = f"{command} {expected_path}"
+
+    assert line == expected
+
+
+def test_env_activate_bash_on_windows_gets_source_command(
+    tmp_venv: VirtualEnv,
+    mocker: MockerFixture,
+    tester: CommandTester,
+) -> None:
+    mocker.patch("shellingham.detect_shell", return_value=("bash", None))
+    mocker.patch("poetry.utils.env.EnvManager.get", return_value=tmp_venv)
+
+    mocker.patch("poetry.console.commands.env.activate.WINDOWS", True)
+
+    tester.execute()
+
+    line = tester.io.fetch_output().rstrip("\n")
+
+    assert line.startswith("source ")
+    assert "activate" in line
+    assert not (line.startswith('"') and line.endswith('"') and "source" not in line)
+
+
+def test_env_activate_unknown_shell_defaults_to_source(
+    tmp_venv: VirtualEnv,
+    mocker: MockerFixture,
+    tester: CommandTester,
+) -> None:
+    mocker.patch("shellingham.detect_shell", return_value=("unknown_shell", None))
+    mocker.patch("poetry.utils.env.EnvManager.get", return_value=tmp_venv)
+
+    tester.execute()
+
+    line = tester.io.fetch_output().rstrip("\n")
+    assert line.startswith("source ")
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("verbosity", ["", "-v", "-vv", "-vvv"])
 def test_no_additional_output_in_verbose_mode(
     tmp_venv: VirtualEnv,