diff --git a/packages/create/src/file-helpers.ts b/packages/create/src/file-helpers.ts
index 4ea00165..8ce715c3 100644
--- a/packages/create/src/file-helpers.ts
+++ b/packages/create/src/file-helpers.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { basename, extname, resolve } from 'node:path'
 import parseGitignore from 'parse-gitignore'
 import ignore from 'ignore'
 
+import { hasDrive, stripDrive } from './utils'
 import type { Environment } from './types'
 
 const BINARY_EXTENSIONS = ['.png', '.jpg', '.jpeg', '.gif', '.svg', '.ico']
@@ -43,7 +44,17 @@ export function toCleanPath(absolutePath: string, baseDir: string): string {
   // Normalize both paths to use forward slashes for consistent comparison
   const normalizedPath = absolutePath.replace(/\\/g, '/')
   const normalizedBase = baseDir.replace(/\\/g, '/')
-  let cleanPath = normalizedPath.replace(normalizedBase, '')
+  let cleanPath = normalizedPath
+  if (normalizedPath.startsWith(normalizedBase)) {
+    cleanPath = normalizedPath.slice(normalizedBase.length)
+  } else if (hasDrive(normalizedPath) !== hasDrive(normalizedBase)) {
+    // Handle paths that are missing the Windows drive letter (e.g. memfs on Windows)
+    const pathNoDrive = stripDrive(normalizedPath)
+    const baseNoDrive = stripDrive(normalizedBase)
+    if (pathNoDrive.startsWith(baseNoDrive)) {
+      cleanPath = pathNoDrive.slice(baseNoDrive.length)
+    }
+  }
   // Handle leading path separator
   if (cleanPath.startsWith('/')) {
     cleanPath = cleanPath.slice(1)
diff --git a/packages/create/src/utils.ts b/packages/create/src/utils.ts
index 5f450e78..4ecc2a40 100644
--- a/packages/create/src/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/create/src/utils.ts
@@ -40,3 +40,11 @@ export function handleSpecialURL(url: string) {
   }
   return url
 }
+
+export function hasDrive(path: string) {
+  return /^[A-Za-z]:/.test(path)
+}
+
+export function stripDrive(path: string) {
+  return path.replace(/^[A-Za-z]:/, '')
+}
diff --git a/packages/create/tests/file-helper.test.ts b/packages/create/tests/file-helper.test.ts
index 52a69483..53285b4c 100644
--- a/packages/create/tests/file-helper.test.ts
+++ b/packages/create/tests/file-helper.test.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,12 @@ describe('toCleanPath', () => {
       toCleanPath('C:\\Projects\\my-app\\src\\file.ts', 'C:/Projects/my-app'),
     ).toBe('src/file.ts')
   })
+
+  it('should handle missing drive letter in path against Windows base', () => {
+    expect(
+      toCleanPath('/Users/me/my-app/src/file.ts', 'C:\\Users\\me\\my-app'),
+    ).toBe('src/file.ts')
+  })
 })
 
 describe('relativePath', () => {