diff --git a/pipenv/utils.py b/pipenv/utils.py
index 0794df46..d43158bb 100644
--- a/pipenv/utils.py
+++ b/pipenv/utils.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import sys
 import warnings
 
 from contextlib import contextmanager
-from distutils.spawn import find_executable
 from pathlib import Path
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
@@ -1623,7 +1622,7 @@ def find_windows_executable(bin_path, exe_name):
             if os.path.isfile(path):
                 return path
 
-    return find_executable(exe_name)
+    return shutil.which(exe_name)
 
 
 def path_to_url(path):
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_utils_windows_executable.py b/tests/unit/test_utils_windows_executable.py
index 22f20b35..a6eaa5ad 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_utils_windows_executable.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_utils_windows_executable.py
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@ pytestmark = pytest.mark.skipif(
 
 @pytest.mark.utils
 @mock.patch('os.path.isfile')
-@mock.patch('pipenv.utils.find_executable')
-def test_find_windows_executable(mocked_find_executable, mocked_isfile):
+@mock.patch('shutil.which')
+def test_find_windows_executable_when_not_found(mocked_which, mocked_isfile):
     mocked_isfile.return_value = False
-    mocked_find_executable.return_value = None
+    mocked_which.return_value = None
     found = utils.find_windows_executable('fake/path', 'python')
     assert found is None
 
@@ -29,3 +29,22 @@ def test_find_windows_executable(mocked_find_executable, mocked_isfile):
         for ext in os.environ['PATHEXT'].split(';')
     ]
     assert mocked_isfile.mock_calls == calls
+
+
+@pytest.mark.utils
+@mock.patch('os.path.isfile')
+@mock.patch('shutil.which')
+def test_find_windows_executable_when_found(mocked_which, mocked_isfile):
+    mocked_isfile.return_value = False
+    found_path = '/fake/known/system/path/pyenv'
+    mocked_which.return_value = found_path
+    found = utils.find_windows_executable('fake/path', 'pyenv')
+    assert found is found_path
+
+    assert mocked_isfile.call_count > 1
+
+    calls = [mock.call('fake\\path\\pyenv')] + [
+        mock.call('fake\\path\\pyenv{0}'.format(ext.lower()))
+        for ext in os.environ['PATHEXT'].split(';')
+    ]
+    assert mocked_isfile.mock_calls == calls