diff --git a/dump_cfg.py b/dump_cfg.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e750c2b1fbe95f61f930230aec2441f5f903df4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dump_cfg.py
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import os
+import yaml
+from gitlabemu import configloader
+cfg = configloader.find_ci_config(os.getcwd())
+loader = configloader.Loader()
+loader.load(cfg)
+for jobname in loader.get_jobs():
+    print(jobname)
+    job = loader.get_job(jobname)
+    assert job
+    # job is a dictionary of the job image, stage, steps, artifacts etc
diff --git a/emulator/gitlabemu/docker.py b/emulator/gitlabemu/docker.py
index 9a9b9312aa146436783421ff5308e402db6abedc..ff0f43f72e10805851e53e680c444876c7d7226c 100644
--- a/emulator/gitlabemu/docker.py
+++ b/emulator/gitlabemu/docker.py
@@ -222,21 +222,26 @@ class DockerJob(Job):
         filename = "generated-gitlab-script" + self.get_script_fileext()
         temp = os.path.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), filename)
         try:
-            with open(temp, "w") as fd:
-                print(lines, file=fd)
-            # copy it to the container
-            dest = "/tmp"
-            if is_windows():
-                dest = "c:\\windows\\temp"
-            target_script = os.path.join(dest, filename)
-            info("Copying {} to container as {} ..".format(temp, target_script))
-            self.docker.add_file(temp, dest)
+            stdin = None
+            if self.is_powershell():
+                stdin = lines
+                target_script = None
+            if stdin is None:
+                # copy script into the container
+                with open(temp, "w") as fd:
+                    print(lines, file=fd)
+                dest = "/tmp"
+                if is_windows():
+                    dest = "c:\\windows\\temp"
+                target_script = os.path.join(dest, filename)
+                info("Copying {} to container as {} ..".format(temp, target_script))
+                self.docker.add_file(temp, dest)
 
             while attempts > 0:
                 try:
                     cmdline = self.shell_command(target_script)
-                    task = self.docker.exec(self.workspace, cmdline, user=user)
-                    self.communicate(task, script=None)
+                    task = self.docker.exec(self.workspace, cmdline, user=user, pipe=True)
+                    self.communicate(task, script=stdin)
                     break
                 except DockerExecError:
                     self.stdout.write(
diff --git a/emulator/gitlabemu/helpers.py b/emulator/gitlabemu/helpers.py
index aa7ec9098358f4135bc1701fc8bbde10e10fd092..7a391a181f1f7d04686347762fc3a4bcd3d52e16 100644
--- a/emulator/gitlabemu/helpers.py
+++ b/emulator/gitlabemu/helpers.py
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ class ProcessLineProxyThread(Thread):
                     self.errors.append(err)
 
     def run(self):
+        data = None
         while True:
             try:
                 data = self.process.stdout.readline()
diff --git a/emulator/gitlabemu/jobs.py b/emulator/gitlabemu/jobs.py
index 4594dffdee011f5a9ec171d56494283889c710b3..3446ee2a45c3f1284cb9719b8e9acc17e8bfdfb7 100644
--- a/emulator/gitlabemu/jobs.py
+++ b/emulator/gitlabemu/jobs.py
@@ -11,10 +11,12 @@ import subprocess
 import tempfile
 import threading
 import time
+
 from .logmsg import info, fatal
 from .errors import GitlabEmulatorError
 from .helpers import communicate as comm, is_windows, is_apple, is_linux, debug_print
 from .helpers import parse_timeout
+from .ansi import ANSI_GREEN, ANSI_RESET
 
 
 class NoSuchJob(GitlabEmulatorError):
@@ -111,12 +113,12 @@ class Job(object):
 
     def shell_command(self, scriptfile):
         if is_windows():
-            if self.shell == "powershell":
+            if self.is_powershell():
                 return ["powershell.exe",
                         "-NoProfile",
                         "-NonInteractive",
                         "-ExecutionPolicy", "Bypass",
-                        "-Command", scriptfile]
+                        "-Command", "-"]
             return ["powershell", "-Command", "& cmd /Q /C " + scriptfile]
         # else unix/linux
         interp = "/bin/sh"
@@ -267,21 +269,27 @@ class Job(object):
         script = make_script(lines, powershell=self.is_powershell())
         temp = tempfile.mkdtemp()
         try:
-            ext = self.get_script_fileext()
-            generated = os.path.join(temp, "generated-gitlab-script" + ext)
-            with open(generated, "w") as fd:
-                print(script, file=fd)
+            generated = None
+            stdin = None
+            proc_stdin = subprocess.DEVNULL
+            if self.is_powershell():
+                stdin = script.encode()
+                proc_stdin = subprocess.PIPE
+            else:
+                generated = os.path.join(temp, "generated-gitlab-script" + self.get_script_fileext())
+                with open(generated, "w") as fd:
+                    print(script, file=fd)
             cmdline = self.shell_command(generated)
             debug_print("cmdline: {}".format(cmdline))
             opened = subprocess.Popen(cmdline,
                                       env=envs,
                                       shell=False,
                                       cwd=self.workspace,
-                                      stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL,
+                                      stdin=proc_stdin,
                                       stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                                       stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
             self.build_process = opened
-            self.communicate(opened, script=None)
+            self.communicate(opened, script=stdin)
         finally:
             shutil.rmtree(temp)
 
@@ -381,6 +389,27 @@ class Job(object):
             fatal("Shell job {} failed".format(self.name))
 
 
+def powershell_escape(text: str, variable=False) -> str:
+    """Escape a powershell string"""
+    text = ANSI_GREEN + text + ANSI_RESET
+    # taken from: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/escapechars.php
+    text = text.replace("`", "``")
+    text = text.replace("\a", "`a")
+    text = text.replace("\b", "`b")
+    text = text.replace("\f", "^f")
+    text = text.replace("\r", "`r")
+    text = text.replace("\n", "`n")
+    text = text.replace("\t", "^t")
+    text = text.replace("\v", "^v")
+    text = text.replace("#", "`#")
+    text = text.replace("'", "`'")
+    text = text.replace("\"", "`\"")
+    if variable:
+        text = text.replace("$", "`$")
+        text = text.replace("``e", "`e")
+    return text
+
+
 def make_script(lines, powershell=False):
     """
     Join lines together to make a script
@@ -404,7 +433,7 @@ def make_script(lines, powershell=False):
                 'echo "Running on $([Environment]::MachineName)..."',
             ]
             line_wrap_before = [
-                '& {',
+                '& { ',
             ]
             line_wrap_tail = [
                 '}',
@@ -440,7 +469,8 @@ def make_script(lines, powershell=False):
         else:
             content += os.linesep.join(line_wrap_before)
             if powershell:
-                content += "& " + line + os.linesep
+                content += "echo" + powershell_escape(line, variable=True) + os.linesep
+                content += "& " + powershell_escape(line) + os.linesep
                 content += "if(!$?) { Exit $LASTEXITCODE }" + os.linesep
             else:
                 content += line + os.linesep
diff --git a/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/conftest.py b/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/conftest.py
index 02f5843ba193f749f66676b34d97f2f316845578..00cf21a02ed2bd5709bca6c0b24484604bb3ec59 100644
--- a/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/conftest.py
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ def posix_only():
         pytest.skip("System does not have the posix module")
 
 
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+def windows_only():
+    if platform.system() != "Windows":
+        pytest.skip("not a Windows platform")
+
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
 def has_docker():
     try:
diff --git a/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/test-powershell-fail.yml b/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/test-powershell-fail.yml
index 09e26e2277268f3a3ae3049f730e40d878cfff54..8d73c95c708be2b9aefd43a2f9cdbeddcd1fadcf 100644
--- a/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/test-powershell-fail.yml
+++ b/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/test-powershell-fail.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ windows-powershell-ok:
     - .windows
   script:
     - echo hello
+    - cmd /C "echo this goes to stderr 1>&2"
     - echo 'this is powershell'
     - dir test-powershell-fail.yml
 
diff --git a/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/test_local_shell.py b/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/test_local_shell.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..11a640d42af7af35fd24de467b568a539d9e355a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/emulator/gitlabemu/tests/test_local_shell.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+"""Tests running local shells"""
+import pytest
+import os
+from ..runner import run
+
+
+@pytest.mark.usefixtures("windows_only")
+def test_local_shell_windows(top_dir, capfd):
+    """Test a basic shell script job works and fails correctly"""
+    folder = os.path.join(top_dir, "emulator", "gitlabemu", "tests")
+    os.chdir(folder)
+    # should print to stderr without failing the build
+    run(["-c", "test-powershell-fail.yml", "windows-powershell-ok", "--powershell", "--ignore-docker"])
+    stdout, _ = capfd.readouterr()
+    assert "this goes to stderr" in stdout
+    assert "this is powershell" in stdout
+
+    with pytest.raises(SystemExit):
+        run(["-c", "test-powershell-fail.yml", "windows-powershell-fail", "--powershell", "--ignore-docker"])
diff --git a/emulator/setup.py b/emulator/setup.py
index b1c2c92c1bfc8d1a04049318ac2aa4547933282a..3e96e6fa9e1b6be87d6c188b2b11b11d70d3b13c 100644
--- a/emulator/setup.py
+++ b/emulator/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 from distutils.core import setup
 
-VERSION = "0.9.18"
+VERSION = "0.9.19"
 
 setup(
     name="gitlab-emulator",
diff --git a/runner/GitlabPyRunner/consts.py b/runner/GitlabPyRunner/consts.py
index b30f8768e46171b22ec7bb2501fe8420f33290f9..5844aa2c6f724ca4729d64d2d32716ab6bdf0ff8 100644
--- a/runner/GitlabPyRunner/consts.py
+++ b/runner/GitlabPyRunner/consts.py
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
 Constants for gitlab-python-runner
 """
 NAME = "gitlab-python-runner"
-VERSION = "14.3.13"
+VERSION = "14.3.14"
 USER_AGENT = "{} {}".format(NAME, VERSION)
diff --git a/runner/setup.py b/runner/setup.py
index 28daeeffa58e97f76b459da6546c691a5fe00e0c..84096efeb14e50885e4e350b27c74abf33d4586d 100644
--- a/runner/setup.py
+++ b/runner/setup.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ setup(
     scripts=["gitlab-runner.py"],
     install_requires=[
         "pyyaml>=5.1",
-        "gitlab-emulator>=0.9.18",
+        "gitlab-emulator>=0.9.19",
         "unidecode>=1.1.1"],
     platforms=["any"],
     license="License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",