diff --git a/qa/os/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/packaging/util/Shell.java b/qa/os/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/packaging/util/Shell.java
index 18988a7310fb4..95141aae17359 100644
--- a/qa/os/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/packaging/util/Shell.java
+++ b/qa/os/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/packaging/util/Shell.java
@@ -88,9 +88,13 @@ public void chown(Path path) throws Exception {
         Platforms.onLinux(() -> run("chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch " + path));
         Platforms.onWindows(() -> run(
             "$account = New-Object System.Security.Principal.NTAccount '" + System.getenv("username")  + "'; " +
-                "$tempConf = Get-ChildItem '" + path + "' -Recurse; " +
-                "$tempConf += Get-Item '" + path + "'; " +
-                "$tempConf | ForEach-Object { " +
+                "$pathInfo = Get-Item '" + path + "'; " +
+                "$toChown = @(); " +
+                "if ($pathInfo.PSIsContainer) { " +
+                "  $toChown += Get-ChildItem '" + path + "' -Recurse; " +
+                "}" +
+                "$toChown += $pathInfo; " +
+                "$toChown | ForEach-Object { " +
                 "$acl = Get-Acl $_.FullName; " +
                 "$acl.SetOwner($account); " +
                 "Set-Acl $_.FullName $acl " +