diff --git a/mercurial/debugcommands.py b/mercurial/debugcommands.py
--- a/mercurial/debugcommands.py
+++ b/mercurial/debugcommands.py
@@ -1209,15 +1209,16 @@
     editor = ui.geteditor()
     editor = util.expandpath(editor)
     fm.write('editor', _("checking commit editor... (%s)\n"), editor)
-    cmdpath = util.findexe(pycompat.shlexsplit(editor)[0])
+    editorbin = pycompat.shlexsplit(editor)[0]
+    cmdpath = util.findexe(editorbin)
     fm.condwrite(not cmdpath and editor == 'vi', 'vinotfound',
                  _(" No commit editor set and can't find %s in PATH\n"
                    " (specify a commit editor in your configuration"
-                   " file)\n"), not cmdpath and editor == 'vi' and editor)
+                   " file)\n"), not cmdpath and editor == 'vi' and editorbin)
     fm.condwrite(not cmdpath and editor != 'vi', 'editornotfound',
                  _(" Can't find editor '%s' in PATH\n"
                    " (specify a commit editor in your configuration"
-                   " file)\n"), not cmdpath and editor)
+                   " file)\n"), not cmdpath and editorbin)
     if not cmdpath and editor != 'vi':
         problems += 1
 
diff --git a/tests/test-install.t b/tests/test-install.t
--- a/tests/test-install.t
+++ b/tests/test-install.t
@@ -120,6 +120,34 @@
   checking username (test)
   no problems detected
 
+print out the binary post-shlexsplit in the error message when commit editor is
+not found (this is intentionally using backslashes to mimic a windows usecase).
+  $ HGEDITOR="c:\foo\bar\baz.exe -y -z" hg debuginstall
+  checking encoding (ascii)...
+  checking Python executable (*) (glob)
+  checking Python version (*) (glob)
+  checking Python lib (*lib*)... (glob)
+  checking Python security support (*) (glob)
+    TLS 1.2 not supported by Python install; network connections lack modern security (?)
+    SNI not supported by Python install; may have connectivity issues with some servers (?)
+  checking Mercurial version (*) (glob)
+  checking Mercurial custom build (*) (glob)
+  checking module policy (*) (glob)
+  checking installed modules (*mercurial)... (glob)
+  checking registered compression engines (*zlib*) (glob)
+  checking available compression engines (*zlib*) (glob)
+  checking available compression engines for wire protocol (*zlib*) (glob)
+  checking "re2" regexp engine \((available|missing)\) (re)
+  checking templates (*mercurial?templates)... (glob)
+  checking default template (*mercurial?templates?map-cmdline.default) (glob)
+  checking commit editor... (c:\foo\bar\baz.exe -y -z)
+   Can't find editor 'c:foobarbaz.exe' in PATH
+   (specify a commit editor in your configuration file)
+  checking username (test)
+  1 problems detected, please check your install!
+  [1]
+
+
 #if test-repo
   $ . "$TESTDIR/helpers-testrepo.sh"