diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index c0cb50bb6ae..98048c26022 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 - Fix make sure the collected logs or metrics include streams information. {pull}18261[18261]
 - Stop monitoring on config change {pull}18284[18284]
 - Fix jq: command not found {pull}18408[18408]
+- Avoid Chown on windows {pull}18512[18512]
 
 ==== New features
 
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/monitoring/beats/beats_monitor.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/monitoring/beats/beats_monitor.go
index f1fb92d3a71..c8d25c733aa 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/monitoring/beats/beats_monitor.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/monitoring/beats/beats_monitor.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"unicode"
 
@@ -139,7 +140,7 @@ func (b *Monitor) Prepare(process, pipelineID string, uid, gid int) error {
 			}
 		}
 
-		if err := os.Chown(drop, uid, gid); err != nil {
+		if err := changeOwner(drop, uid, gid); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
@@ -229,3 +230,12 @@ func isWindowsPath(path string) bool {
 	}
 	return unicode.IsLetter(rune(path[0])) && path[1] == ':'
 }
+
+func changeOwner(path string, uid, gid int) error {
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		// on windows it always returns the syscall.EWINDOWS error, wrapped in *PathError
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return os.Chown(path, uid, gid)
+}
diff --git a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/start.go b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/start.go
index e13e137699e..41fb75ae8ef 100644
--- a/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/start.go
+++ b/x-pack/elastic-agent/pkg/core/plugin/app/start.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 	"unicode"
@@ -319,7 +320,7 @@ func (a *Application) configureByFile(spec *ProcessSpec, config map[string]inter
 	defer f.Close()
 
 	// change owner
-	if err := os.Chown(filePath, a.uid, a.gid); err != nil {
+	if err := changeOwner(filePath, a.uid, a.gid); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -383,3 +384,12 @@ func isWindowsPath(path string) bool {
 	}
 	return unicode.IsLetter(rune(path[0])) && path[1] == ':'
 }
+
+func changeOwner(path string, uid, gid int) error {
+	if runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
+		// on windows it always returns the syscall.EWINDOWS error, wrapped in *PathError
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return os.Chown(path, uid, gid)
+}