diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 69b47b5ad..c925e269f 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1 +1,5 @@
 *.bat text eol=crlf
+*.ps1 text eol=lf
+*.fish text eol=lf
+*.csh text eol=lf
+*.sh text eol=lf
diff --git a/docs/changelog/1818.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/1818.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8396cb9f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/1818.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+For activation scripts always use UNIX line endings (unless it's BATCH shell related) - by :user:`saytosid`.
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/activation/powershell/activate.ps1 b/src/virtualenv/activation/powershell/activate.ps1
index 85b210308..a370a63f5 100644
--- a/src/virtualenv/activation/powershell/activate.ps1
+++ b/src/virtualenv/activation/powershell/activate.ps1
@@ -1,60 +1,60 @@
-$script:THIS_PATH = $myinvocation.mycommand.path
-$script:BASE_DIR = Split-Path (Resolve-Path "$THIS_PATH/..") -Parent
-
-function global:deactivate([switch] $NonDestructive) {
-    if (Test-Path variable:_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH) {
-        $env:PATH = $variable:_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH
-        Remove-Variable "_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH" -Scope global
-    }
-
-    if (Test-Path function:_old_virtual_prompt) {
-        $function:prompt = $function:_old_virtual_prompt
-        Remove-Item function:\_old_virtual_prompt
-    }
-
-    if ($env:VIRTUAL_ENV) {
-        Remove-Item env:VIRTUAL_ENV -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
-    }
-
-    if (!$NonDestructive) {
-        # Self destruct!
-        Remove-Item function:deactivate
-        Remove-Item function:pydoc
-    }
-}
-
-function global:pydoc {
-    python -m pydoc $args
-}
-
-# unset irrelevant variables
-deactivate -nondestructive
-
-$VIRTUAL_ENV = $BASE_DIR
-$env:VIRTUAL_ENV = $VIRTUAL_ENV
-
-New-Variable -Scope global -Name _OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH -Value $env:PATH
-
-$env:PATH = "$env:VIRTUAL_ENV/__BIN_NAME____PATH_SEP__" + $env:PATH
-if (!$env:VIRTUAL_ENV_DISABLE_PROMPT) {
-    function global:_old_virtual_prompt {
-        ""
-    }
-    $function:_old_virtual_prompt = $function:prompt
-
-    if ("__VIRTUAL_PROMPT__" -ne "") {
-        function global:prompt {
-            # Add the custom prefix to the existing prompt
-            $previous_prompt_value = & $function:_old_virtual_prompt
-            ("__VIRTUAL_PROMPT__" + $previous_prompt_value)
-        }
-    }
-    else {
-        function global:prompt {
-            # Add a prefix to the current prompt, but don't discard it.
-            $previous_prompt_value = & $function:_old_virtual_prompt
-            $new_prompt_value = "($( Split-Path $env:VIRTUAL_ENV -Leaf )) "
-            ($new_prompt_value + $previous_prompt_value)
-        }
-    }
-}
+$script:THIS_PATH = $myinvocation.mycommand.path
+$script:BASE_DIR = Split-Path (Resolve-Path "$THIS_PATH/..") -Parent
+
+function global:deactivate([switch] $NonDestructive) {
+    if (Test-Path variable:_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH) {
+        $env:PATH = $variable:_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH
+        Remove-Variable "_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH" -Scope global
+    }
+
+    if (Test-Path function:_old_virtual_prompt) {
+        $function:prompt = $function:_old_virtual_prompt
+        Remove-Item function:\_old_virtual_prompt
+    }
+
+    if ($env:VIRTUAL_ENV) {
+        Remove-Item env:VIRTUAL_ENV -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+    }
+
+    if (!$NonDestructive) {
+        # Self destruct!
+        Remove-Item function:deactivate
+        Remove-Item function:pydoc
+    }
+}
+
+function global:pydoc {
+    python -m pydoc $args
+}
+
+# unset irrelevant variables
+deactivate -nondestructive
+
+$VIRTUAL_ENV = $BASE_DIR
+$env:VIRTUAL_ENV = $VIRTUAL_ENV
+
+New-Variable -Scope global -Name _OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH -Value $env:PATH
+
+$env:PATH = "$env:VIRTUAL_ENV/__BIN_NAME____PATH_SEP__" + $env:PATH
+if (!$env:VIRTUAL_ENV_DISABLE_PROMPT) {
+    function global:_old_virtual_prompt {
+        ""
+    }
+    $function:_old_virtual_prompt = $function:prompt
+
+    if ("__VIRTUAL_PROMPT__" -ne "") {
+        function global:prompt {
+            # Add the custom prefix to the existing prompt
+            $previous_prompt_value = & $function:_old_virtual_prompt
+            ("__VIRTUAL_PROMPT__" + $previous_prompt_value)
+        }
+    }
+    else {
+        function global:prompt {
+            # Add a prefix to the current prompt, but don't discard it.
+            $previous_prompt_value = & $function:_old_virtual_prompt
+            $new_prompt_value = "($( Split-Path $env:VIRTUAL_ENV -Leaf )) "
+            ($new_prompt_value + $previous_prompt_value)
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/activation/via_template.py b/src/virtualenv/activation/via_template.py
index 7a9d3c8e6..14f097973 100644
--- a/src/virtualenv/activation/via_template.py
+++ b/src/virtualenv/activation/via_template.py
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@
 from .activator import Activator
 
 if sys.version_info >= (3, 7):
-    from importlib.resources import read_text
+    from importlib.resources import read_binary
 else:
-    from importlib_resources import read_text
+    from importlib_resources import read_binary
 
 
 @add_metaclass(ABCMeta)
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ def _generate(self, replacements, templates, to_folder, creator):
         for template in templates:
             text = self.instantiate_template(replacements, template, creator)
             dest = to_folder / self.as_name(template)
-            dest.write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
+            # use write_bytes to avoid platform specific line normalization (\n -> \r\n)
+            dest.write_bytes(text.encode("utf-8"))
             generated.append(dest)
         return generated
 
@@ -52,8 +53,9 @@ def as_name(self, template):
         return template.name
 
     def instantiate_template(self, replacements, template, creator):
-        # read text and do replacements
-        text = read_text(self.__module__, str(template), encoding="utf-8", errors="strict")
+        # read content as binary to avoid platform specific line normalization (\n -> \r\n)
+        binary = read_binary(self.__module__, str(template))
+        text = binary.decode("utf-8", errors="strict")
         for key, value in replacements.items():
             value = self._repr_unicode(creator, value)
             text = text.replace(key, value)
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/create/via_global_ref/api.py b/src/virtualenv/create/via_global_ref/api.py
index c9eab3c6e..6f296f452 100644
--- a/src/virtualenv/create/via_global_ref/api.py
+++ b/src/virtualenv/create/via_global_ref/api.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 
 from virtualenv.info import fs_supports_symlink
 from virtualenv.util.path import Path
+from virtualenv.util.six import ensure_text
 
 from ..creator import Creator, CreatorMeta
 
@@ -91,10 +92,10 @@ def install_patch(self):
         text = self.env_patch_text()
         if text:
             pth = self.purelib / "_virtualenv.pth"
-            logging.debug("create virtualenv import hook file %s", pth)
+            logging.debug("create virtualenv import hook file %s", ensure_text(str(pth)))
             pth.write_text("import _virtualenv")
             dest_path = self.purelib / "_virtualenv.py"
-            logging.debug("create %s", dest_path)
+            logging.debug("create %s", ensure_text(str(dest_path)))
             dest_path.write_text(text)
 
     def env_patch_text(self):
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/util/path/_pathlib/via_os_path.py b/src/virtualenv/util/path/_pathlib/via_os_path.py
index d11aeaaab..ac78d4f00 100644
--- a/src/virtualenv/util/path/_pathlib/via_os_path.py
+++ b/src/virtualenv/util/path/_pathlib/via_os_path.py
@@ -87,9 +87,12 @@ def read_bytes(self):
         with open(self._path, "rb") as file_handler:
             return file_handler.read()
 
-    def write_text(self, text, encoding="utf-8"):
+    def write_bytes(self, content):
         with open(self._path, "wb") as file_handler:
-            file_handler.write(text.encode(encoding))
+            file_handler.write(content)
+
+    def write_text(self, text, encoding="utf-8"):
+        self.write_bytes(text.encode(encoding))
 
     def iterdir(self):
         for p in os.listdir(self._path):
diff --git a/tests/unit/activation/conftest.py b/tests/unit/activation/conftest.py
index 98c3fda55..bb3e292fd 100644
--- a/tests/unit/activation/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/unit/activation/conftest.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ def __init__(self, of_class, session, cmd, activate_script, extension):
         self.pydoc_call = "pydoc -w pydoc_test"
         self.script_encoding = "utf-8"
         self._version = None
+        self.unix_line_ending = True
 
     def get_version(self, raise_on_fail):
         if self._version is None:
@@ -63,6 +64,16 @@ def __repr__(self):
 
     def __call__(self, monkeypatch, tmp_path):
         activate_script = self._creator.bin_dir / self.activate_script
+
+        # check line endings are correct type
+        script_content = activate_script.read_bytes()
+        for line in script_content.split(b"\n")[:-1]:
+            cr = b"\r" if sys.version_info.major == 2 else 13
+            if self.unix_line_ending:
+                assert line == b"" or line[-1] != cr, script_content.decode("utf-8")
+            else:
+                assert line[-1] == cr, script_content.decode("utf-8")
+
         test_script = self._generate_test_script(activate_script, tmp_path)
         monkeypatch.chdir(ensure_text(str(tmp_path)))
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/activation/test_bash.py b/tests/unit/activation/test_bash.py
index 5246be09a..51498edbb 100644
--- a/tests/unit/activation/test_bash.py
+++ b/tests/unit/activation/test_bash.py
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, unicode_literals
 
-import sys
-
 import pytest
 
 from virtualenv.activation import BashActivator
+from virtualenv.info import IS_WIN
 
 
-@pytest.mark.skipif(sys.platform == "win32", reason="Github Actions ships with WSL bash")
+@pytest.mark.skipif(IS_WIN, reason="Github Actions ships with WSL bash")
 def test_bash(raise_on_non_source_class, activation_tester):
     class Bash(raise_on_non_source_class):
         def __init__(self, session):
diff --git a/tests/unit/activation/test_batch.py b/tests/unit/activation/test_batch.py
index 92b141b03..e10d902a1 100644
--- a/tests/unit/activation/test_batch.py
+++ b/tests/unit/activation/test_batch.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ def __init__(self, session):
             self.deactivate = "call deactivate"
             self.activate_cmd = "call"
             self.pydoc_call = "call {}".format(self.pydoc_call)
+            self.unix_line_ending = False
 
         def _get_test_lines(self, activate_script):
             # for BATCH utf-8 support need change the character code page to 650001
diff --git a/tests/unit/activation/test_python_activator.py b/tests/unit/activation/test_python_activator.py
index 6abf255aa..859fad684 100644
--- a/tests/unit/activation/test_python_activator.py
+++ b/tests/unit/activation/test_python_activator.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from textwrap import dedent
 
 from virtualenv.activation import PythonActivator
-from virtualenv.info import WIN_CPYTHON_2
+from virtualenv.info import IS_WIN, WIN_CPYTHON_2
 from virtualenv.util.six import ensure_text
 
 
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ def __init__(self, session):
                 extension="py",
                 non_source_fail_message="You must use exec(open(this_file).read(), {'__file__': this_file}))",
             )
+            self.unix_line_ending = not IS_WIN
 
         def env(self, tmp_path):
             env = os.environ.copy()