diff --git a/script/lib/generate-startup-snapshot.js b/script/lib/generate-startup-snapshot.js
index 471bd1201..bb635b4c1 100644
--- a/script/lib/generate-startup-snapshot.js
+++ b/script/lib/generate-startup-snapshot.js
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ const fs = require('fs')
 const path = require('path')
 const electronLink = require('electron-link')
 const CONFIG = require('../config')
-const vm = require('vm')
 
 module.exports = function (packagedAppPath) {
   const snapshotScriptPath = path.join(CONFIG.buildOutputPath, 'startup.js')
@@ -76,7 +75,20 @@ module.exports = function (packagedAppPath) {
     process.stdout.write('\n')
 
     console.log('Verifying if snapshot can be executed via `mksnapshot`')
-    vm.runInNewContext(snapshotScript, undefined, {filename: snapshotScriptPath, displayErrors: true})
+    const verifySnapshotScriptPath = path.join(CONFIG.repositoryRootPath, 'script', 'verify-snapshot-script')
+    let nodeBundledInElectronPath
+    if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
+      nodeBundledInElectronPath = path.join(packagedAppPath, 'Contents', 'MacOS', 'Atom')
+    } else if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+      nodeBundledInElectronPath = path.join(packagedAppPath, 'atom.exe')
+    } else {
+      nodeBundledInElectronPath = path.join(packagedAppPath, 'atom')
+    }
+    childProcess.execFileSync(
+      nodeBundledInElectronPath,
+      [verifySnapshotScriptPath, snapshotScriptPath],
+      {env: Object.assign({}, process.env, {ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE: 1})}
+    )
 
     const generatedStartupBlobPath = path.join(CONFIG.buildOutputPath, 'snapshot_blob.bin')
     console.log(`Generating startup blob at "${generatedStartupBlobPath}"`)
diff --git a/script/verify-snapshot-script b/script/verify-snapshot-script
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..7fddbb1b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/verify-snapshot-script
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+const fs = require('fs')
+const vm = require('vm')
+const snapshotScriptPath = process.argv[2]
+const snapshotScript = fs.readFileSync(snapshotScriptPath, 'utf8')
+vm.runInNewContext(snapshotScript, undefined, {filename: snapshotScriptPath, displayErrors: true})