diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 9bbc87127..48c007520 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -115,6 +115,9 @@ jobs:
           pipenv --version
           which virtualenv
           virtualenv --version
+          which python
+          python --version
+          python -c "import platform; print(f'Python architecture: {platform.architecture()}')"
 
       - name: Run tests
         run: |
diff --git a/tests/pipenv_harness.sh b/tests/pipenv_harness.sh
index bdc512cd6..a166252a4 100644
--- a/tests/pipenv_harness.sh
+++ b/tests/pipenv_harness.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,15 @@ source $CCDS_ROOT/test_functions.sh
 # navigate to the generated project and run make commands 
 cd $1
 make
-make create_environment
+
+# GitHub-hosted Windows runners using setup-python have 32-bit versions of Python
+# installed (see #452). We can test the make command on non-Windows systems,
+# but on Windows we should ensure we use the system python
+if [[ "$RUNNER_OS" == "Windows" ]]; then
+	pipenv --python $(shell where python).exe
+else
+    make create_environment
+fi
 
 # can happen outside of environment since pipenv knows based on Pipfile
 make requirements