diff --git a/distribution/src/bin/elasticsearch-env b/distribution/src/bin/elasticsearch-env
index cc16f710345..fc8b4a809fe 100644
--- a/distribution/src/bin/elasticsearch-env
+++ b/distribution/src/bin/elasticsearch-env
@@ -81,13 +81,5 @@ ES_DISTRIBUTION_FLAVOR=${es.distribution.flavor}
 ES_DISTRIBUTION_TYPE=${es.distribution.type}
 
 if [ -z "$ES_TMPDIR" ]; then
-  set +e
-  mktemp --version 2>&1 | grep coreutils > /dev/null
-  mktemp_coreutils=$?
-  set -e
-  if [ $mktemp_coreutils -eq 0 ]; then
-    ES_TMPDIR=`mktemp -d --tmpdir "elasticsearch.XXXXXXXX"`
-  else
-    ES_TMPDIR=`mktemp -d -t elasticsearch`
-  fi
+  ES_TMPDIR=`"$JAVA" -cp "$ES_CLASSPATH" org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers.TempDirectory`
 fi
diff --git a/distribution/src/bin/elasticsearch-env.bat b/distribution/src/bin/elasticsearch-env.bat
index b9907670920..7c4b8dc49f4 100644
--- a/distribution/src/bin/elasticsearch-env.bat
+++ b/distribution/src/bin/elasticsearch-env.bat
@@ -57,8 +57,5 @@ set ES_DISTRIBUTION_FLAVOR=${es.distribution.flavor}
 set ES_DISTRIBUTION_TYPE=${es.distribution.type}
 
 if not defined ES_TMPDIR (
-  set ES_TMPDIR=!TMP!\elasticsearch
-  if not exist "!ES_TMPDIR!" (
-    mkdir "!ES_TMPDIR!"
-  )
+  for /f "tokens=* usebackq" %%a in (`"%JAVA% -cp "!ES_CLASSPATH!" "org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers.TempDirectory""`) do set ES_TMPDIR=%%a
 )
diff --git a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/Launchers.java b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/Launchers.java
index 6c9a1ef9473..bb82b1a09a8 100644
--- a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/Launchers.java
+++ b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/Launchers.java
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ package org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.tools.java_version_checker.SuppressForbidden;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.attribute.FileAttribute;
+
 /**
  * Utility methods for launchers.
  */
@@ -56,4 +61,9 @@ final class Launchers {
         System.exit(status);
     }
 
+    @SuppressForbidden(reason = "Files#createTempDirectory(String, FileAttribute...)")
+    static Path createTempDirectory(final String prefix, final FileAttribute<?>... attrs) throws IOException {
+        return Files.createTempDirectory(prefix, attrs);
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/TempDirectory.java b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/TempDirectory.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..55f54a4e1da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/distribution/tools/launchers/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tools/launchers/TempDirectory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.tools.launchers;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+
+/**
+ * Provides a path for a temporary directory. On non-Windows OS, this will be created as a sub-directory of the default temporary directory.
+ * Note that this causes the created temporary directory to be a private temporary directory.
+ */
+final class TempDirectory {
+
+    /**
+     * The main entry point. The exit code is 0 if we successfully created a temporary directory as a sub-directory of the default
+     * temporary directory and printed the resulting path to the console.
+     *
+     * @param args the args to the program which should be empty
+     * @throws IOException if an I/O exception occurred while creating the temporary directory
+     */
+    public static void main(final String[] args) throws IOException {
+        if (args.length != 0) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("expected zero arguments but was " + Arrays.toString(args));
+        }
+        /*
+         * On Windows, we avoid creating a unique temporary directory per invocation lest we pollute the temporary directory. On other
+         * operating systems, temporary directories will be cleaned automatically via various mechanisms (e.g., systemd, or restarts).
+         */
+        final Path path;
+        if (System.getProperty("os.name").startsWith("Windows")) {
+            path = Paths.get(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"), "elasticsearch");
+            Files.createDirectories(path);
+        } else {
+            path = Launchers.createTempDirectory("elasticsearch-");
+        }
+        Launchers.outPrintln(path.toString());
+    }
+
+}