nodejs - unable to require('child_process').exec from win8

Question

I'm trying to install/run steroids on win8. I've hacked an install that seems to work except for 1 problem - it won't open the browser to show a QR code.

I traced the issue to open.js: line 51

// exec string is as follows:
//      start "" "chrome" "http://localhost:4567/__appgyver/connect/qrcode.html?qrCodeData=appgyver%3A%2F%2F%3Fips%3D%255B%2522192.168.1.9%2522%252C%2522127.0.0.1%2522%255D%26port%3D4567"
return exec(opener + ' "' + escape(target) + '"', callback);

I logged the output string and copy/pasted it in a CMD window. It successfully launched Chrome and loaded the correct URL.

So why isn't node opening the browser?