diff --git a/IPython/utils/_process_common.py b/IPython/utils/_process_common.py
index ce2c19e..9ede30d 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/_process_common.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/_process_common.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ of subprocess utilities, and it contains tools that are common to all of them.
 import subprocess
 import shlex
 import sys
+import os
 
 from IPython.utils import py3compat
 
@@ -69,7 +70,14 @@ def process_handler(cmd, callback, stderr=subprocess.PIPE):
     sys.stderr.flush()
     # On win32, close_fds can't be true when using pipes for stdin/out/err
     close_fds = sys.platform != 'win32'
-    p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=isinstance(cmd, py3compat.string_types),
+    # Determine if cmd should be run with system shell.
+    shell = isinstance(cmd, py3compat.string_types)
+    # On POSIX systems run shell commands with user-preferred shell.
+    executable = None
+    if shell and os.name == 'posix' and 'SHELL' in os.environ:
+        executable = os.environ['SHELL']
+    p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=shell,
+                         executable=executable,
                          stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
                          stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                          stderr=stderr,