diff --git a/.coveragerc b/.coveragerc
index ad3d8fd04..8076ebd38 100644
--- a/.coveragerc
+++ b/.coveragerc
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 branch = true
 source =
   xonsh/
+  xontrib/
 omit =
   */__amalgam__.py
   xonsh/lazyasd.py
diff --git a/AUTHORS.rst b/AUTHORS.rst
index fdf928e00..75322b906 100644
--- a/AUTHORS.rst
+++ b/AUTHORS.rst
@@ -207,5 +207,6 @@ Authors are sorted by number of commits.
 * chengxuncc
 * goodboy
 * Atsushi Morimoto
+* Caleb Hattingh
 
 
diff --git a/news/vox-activate-absolute-path.rst b/news/vox-activate-absolute-path.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e23334c14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/vox-activate-absolute-path.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+**Added:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Changed:**
+
+* ``vox activate`` will now prepend the absolute path of the virtualenv ``bin/`` directory (or ``Scripts/`` on Windows) to ``$PATH``; before this was a relative path.
+
+**Deprecated:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Removed:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Fixed:**
+
+* <news item>
+
+**Security:**
+
+* <news item>
+
diff --git a/tests/test_vox.py b/tests/test_vox.py
index 80ee59803..9d84f390b 100644
--- a/tests/test_vox.py
+++ b/tests/test_vox.py
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 """Vox tests"""
 
-import builtins
 import stat
 import os
+import subprocess as sp
 import pytest
+import sys
 from xontrib.voxapi import Vox
 
 from tools import skip_if_on_conda, skip_if_on_msys
@@ -80,6 +81,55 @@ def test_activate(xonsh_builtins, tmpdir):
     assert last_event == ("deactivate", "spam")
 
 
+@skip_if_on_msys
+@skip_if_on_conda
+def test_activate_non_vox_venv(xonsh_builtins, tmpdir):
+    """
+    Create a virtual environment using Python's built-in venv module
+    (not in VIRTUALENV_HOME) and verify that vox can activate it correctly.
+    """
+    xonsh_builtins.__xonsh__.env.setdefault("PATH", [])
+
+    last_event = None
+
+    @xonsh_builtins.events.vox_on_activate
+    def activate(name, path, **_):
+        nonlocal last_event
+        last_event = "activate", name, path
+
+    @xonsh_builtins.events.vox_on_deactivate
+    def deactivate(name, path, **_):
+        nonlocal last_event
+        last_event = "deactivate", name, path
+
+    with tmpdir.as_cwd():
+        venv_dirname = 'venv'
+        sp.run([sys.executable, '-m', 'venv', venv_dirname])
+        vox = Vox()
+        vox.activate(venv_dirname)
+        vxv = vox[venv_dirname]
+
+    env = xonsh_builtins.__xonsh__.env
+    assert os.path.isabs(vxv.bin)
+    assert env["PATH"][0] == vxv.bin
+    assert os.path.isabs(vxv.env)
+    assert env["VIRTUAL_ENV"] == vxv.env
+    assert last_event == (
+        "activate",
+        venv_dirname,
+        str(pathlib.Path(str(tmpdir)) / 'venv')
+    )
+
+    vox.deactivate()
+    assert not env["PATH"]
+    assert "VIRTUAL_ENV" not in env
+    assert last_event == (
+        "deactivate",
+        tmpdir.join(venv_dirname),
+        str(pathlib.Path(str(tmpdir)) / 'venv')
+    )
+
+
 @skip_if_on_msys
 @skip_if_on_conda
 def test_path(xonsh_builtins, tmpdir):
diff --git a/xontrib/voxapi.py b/xontrib/voxapi.py
index 348757a3e..920e7bef6 100644
--- a/xontrib/voxapi.py
+++ b/xontrib/voxapi.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ API for Vox, the Python virtual environment manager for xonsh.
 Vox defines several events related to the life cycle of virtual environments:
 
 * ``vox_on_create(env: str) -> None``
-* ``vox_on_activate(env: str) -> None``
-* ``vox_on_deactivate(env: str) -> None``
+* ``vox_on_activate(env: str, path: pathlib.Path) -> None``
+* ``vox_on_deactivate(env: str, path: pathlib.Path) -> None``
 * ``vox_on_delete(env: str) -> None``
 """
 import os
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Fired after an environment is created.
 events.doc(
     "vox_on_activate",
     """
-vox_on_activate(env: str) -> None
+vox_on_activate(env: str, path: pathlib.Path) -> None
 
 Fired after an environment is activated.
 """,
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ Fired after an environment is activated.
 events.doc(
     "vox_on_deactivate",
     """
-vox_on_deactivate(env: str) -> None
+vox_on_deactivate(env: str, path: pathlib.Path) -> None
 
 Fired after an environment is deactivated.
 """,
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ def _mkvenv(env_dir):
 
     This only cares about the platform. No filesystem calls are made.
     """
-    env_dir = os.path.normpath(env_dir)
+    env_dir = os.path.abspath(env_dir)
     if ON_WINDOWS:
         binname = os.path.join(env_dir, "Scripts")
         incpath = os.path.join(env_dir, "Include")
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ class Vox(collections.abc.Mapping):
         if "PYTHONHOME" in env:
             type(self).oldvars["PYTHONHOME"] = env.pop("PYTHONHOME")
 
-        events.vox_on_activate.fire(name=name)
+        events.vox_on_activate.fire(name=name, path=ve.env)
 
     def deactivate(self):
         """
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ class Vox(collections.abc.Mapping):
 
         env.pop("VIRTUAL_ENV")
 
-        events.vox_on_deactivate.fire(name=env_name)
+        events.vox_on_deactivate.fire(name=env_name, path=self[env_name].env)
         return env_name
 
     def __delitem__(self, name):