diff --git a/lib/internal/bootstrap/switches/does_own_process_state.js b/lib/internal/bootstrap/switches/does_own_process_state.js
index 370da66a825f65..fc5199064ef933 100644
--- a/lib/internal/bootstrap/switches/does_own_process_state.js
+++ b/lib/internal/bootstrap/switches/does_own_process_state.js
@@ -138,7 +138,22 @@ function wrappedUmask(mask) {
 }
 
 function wrappedCwd() {
-  if (cachedCwd === '')
-    cachedCwd = rawMethods.cwd();
+  if (cachedCwd === '') {
+    try {
+      cachedCwd = rawMethods.cwd();
+    } catch (err) {
+      if (err.code === 'ENOENT') {
+        const betterErr = new Error(
+          'The current working directory does not exist. ' +
+          'It may have been deleted or unmounted. ' +
+          'Change to an existing directory and try again.',
+        );
+        betterErr.code = err.code;
+        betterErr.syscall = 'process.cwd';
+        throw betterErr;
+      }
+      throw err;
+    }
+  }
   return cachedCwd;
 }
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-process-cwd-enoent.js b/test/parallel/test-process-cwd-enoent.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..d922572700f78b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-process-cwd-enoent.js
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// Test that process.cwd() throws a descriptive error when the current
+// working directory has been deleted. Regression test for
+// https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues/57045
+
+const common = require('../common');
+
+// This test is not meaningful on Windows because Windows does not allow
+// deleting a directory that is the cwd of a running process.
+if (common.isWindows) {
+  common.skip('Windows does not allow deleting cwd of a running process');
+}
+
+const assert = require('assert');
+const { execFileSync } = require('child_process');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+const tmpdir = require('../common/tmpdir');
+
+tmpdir.refresh();
+
+const dir = path.join(tmpdir.path, 'cwd-deleted');
+fs.mkdirSync(dir);
+
+// Spawn a child process that chdir's into the temp directory, deletes it,
+// then attempts process.cwd(). The error should be descriptive.
+const child = execFileSync(process.execPath, [
+  '-e',
+  `process.chdir(${JSON.stringify(dir)});
+   require('fs').rmSync(${JSON.stringify(dir)}, { recursive: true });
+   try {
+     process.cwd();
+     process.exit(1); // Should not reach here
+   } catch (err) {
+     process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify({
+       code: err.code,
+       syscall: err.syscall,
+       message: err.message,
+     }));
+   }`,
+], { encoding: 'utf8' });
+
+const parsed = JSON.parse(child.trim());
+
+assert.strictEqual(parsed.code, 'ENOENT');
+assert.strictEqual(parsed.syscall, 'process.cwd');
+assert.match(parsed.message, /current working directory/i);
+assert.match(parsed.message, /does not exist/i);