diff --git a/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c b/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c
index e93e602e12..cabb94fab8 100644
--- a/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c
+++ b/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c
@@ -3401,6 +3401,9 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	/* ... and tag on pg_ctl instead */
 	join_path_components(pg_ctl_path, pg_ctl_path, "pg_ctl");
 
+	/* Convert the path to use native separators */
+	make_native_path(pg_ctl_path);
+
 	/* path to pg_ctl, properly quoted */
 	appendShellString(start_db_cmd, pg_ctl_path);