diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 1022da98f..13ca85e13 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ gem "vagrant", :path => '.'
 # Use the following gems straight from git, since Vagrant dev
 # typically coincides with it
 gem "virtualbox", :git => "git://github.com/mitchellh/virtualbox.git"
+gem "net-ssh-shell", :git => "git://github.com/mitchellh/net-ssh-shell.git"
 
 # Gems required for testing only. To install run
 # gem bundle test
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/provisioners/chef.rb b/lib/vagrant/provisioners/chef.rb
index 8cf5f7cf4..81728dfaf 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/provisioners/chef.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/provisioners/chef.rb
@@ -10,9 +10,11 @@ module Vagrant
 
       def verify_binary(binary)
         vm.ssh.execute do |ssh|
-          # Checks for the existence of chef binary and error if it
-          # doesn't exist.
-          ssh.exec!("which #{binary}", :error_class => ChefError, :_key => :chef_not_detected, :binary => binary)
+          ssh.shell do |sh|
+            # Checks for the existence of chef binary and error if it
+            # doesn't exist.
+            sh.execute("which #{binary}", :error_class => ChefError, :_key => :chef_not_detected, :binary => binary)
+          end
         end
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/ssh.rb b/lib/vagrant/ssh.rb
index a53d248f5..f7f7cc61e 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/ssh.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/ssh.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 require 'timeout'
 require 'net/ssh'
+require 'net/ssh/shell'
 require 'net/scp'
 require 'mario'
 
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/ssh/session.rb b/lib/vagrant/ssh/session.rb
index f4d97b67b..d5a138de8 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/ssh/session.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/ssh/session.rb
@@ -12,6 +12,29 @@ module Vagrant
         @session = session
       end
 
+      # Opens a shell with this SSH session, which forces things like the
+      # `/etc/profile` script to load, and for state to exist between commands,
+      # and so on. The overhead on this is much higher than simply calling
+      # {#exec!} and should really only be called when settings for the terminal
+      # may be needed (for things such as a PATH modifications and so on).
+      def shell
+        session.shell do |sh|
+          sh.on_process_run do |sh, process|
+            process.on_finish do |p|
+              # By default when a process finishes we want to check the exit
+              # status so we can properly raise an exception
+              self.check_exit_status(p.exit_status, p.command, p.properties)
+            end
+          end
+
+          yield sh
+
+          # Exit and wait. We don't run shell commands in the background.
+          sh.execute "exit"
+          sh.wait!
+        end
+      end
+
       # Executes a given command and simply returns true/false if the
       # command succeeded or not.
       def test?(command)
diff --git a/test/vagrant/provisioners/chef_test.rb b/test/vagrant/provisioners/chef_test.rb
index 41fb9b8f8..5c8f68da7 100644
--- a/test/vagrant/provisioners/chef_test.rb
+++ b/test/vagrant/provisioners/chef_test.rb
@@ -111,12 +111,14 @@ class ChefProvisionerTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   context "verifying binary" do
     setup do
       @ssh = mock("ssh")
+      @shell = mock("shell")
+      @ssh.stubs(:shell).yields(@shell)
       @vm.ssh.stubs(:execute).yields(@ssh)
     end
 
     should "verify binary exists" do
       binary = "foo"
-      @ssh.expects(:exec!).with("which #{binary}", anything)
+      @shell.expects(:execute).with("which #{binary}", anything)
       @action.verify_binary(binary)
     end
   end
diff --git a/vagrant.gemspec b/vagrant.gemspec
index 9d2187706..a64dd1e45 100644
--- a/vagrant.gemspec
+++ b/vagrant.gemspec
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency "json", "~> 1.4.6"
   s.add_dependency "mario", "~> 0.0.6"
   s.add_dependency "net-ssh", "~> 2.0.23"
+  s.add_dependency "net-ssh-shell", "~> 0.2.0"
   s.add_dependency "net-scp", "~> 1.0.4"
   s.add_dependency "i18n", "~> 0.5.0"
   s.add_dependency "thor", "~> 0.14.6"