diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index cd1293b708b..f159ce8d5bc 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1150,7 +1150,7 @@ docs = ["sphinx", "jaraco.packaging (>=3.2)", "rst.linker (>=1.9)"]
 testing = ["pathlib2", "unittest2", "jaraco.itertools", "func-timeout"]
 
 [metadata]
-content-hash = "363cbb8480f9bbda72b318c6edfcaa1de130ceecba7c7d0e774005a3bca91df5"
+content-hash = "31e245abc965de18a070191e854be0f3e7161386fb22439b0a297f187d94b3d7"
 python-versions = "~2.7 || ^3.5"
 
 [metadata.files]
@@ -1426,6 +1426,11 @@ markupsafe = [
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-manylinux1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:ba59edeaa2fc6114428f1637ffff42da1e311e29382d81b339c1817d37ec93c6"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:b00c1de48212e4cc9603895652c5c410df699856a2853135b3967591e4beebc2"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp37-cp37m-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:9bf40443012702a1d2070043cb6291650a0841ece432556f784f004937f0f32c"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-macosx_10_9_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:6788b695d50a51edb699cb55e35487e430fa21f1ed838122d722e0ff0ac5ba15"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux1_i686.whl", hash = "sha256:cdb132fc825c38e1aeec2c8aa9338310d29d337bebbd7baa06889d09a60a1fa2"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-manylinux1_x86_64.whl", hash = "sha256:13d3144e1e340870b25e7b10b98d779608c02016d5184cfb9927a9f10c689f42"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-win32.whl", hash = "sha256:596510de112c685489095da617b5bcbbac7dd6384aeebeda4df6025d0256a81b"},
+    {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1-cp38-cp38-win_amd64.whl", hash = "sha256:e8313f01ba26fbbe36c7be1966a7b7424942f670f38e666995b88d012765b9be"},
     {file = "MarkupSafe-1.1.1.tar.gz", hash = "sha256:29872e92839765e546828bb7754a68c418d927cd064fd4708fab9fe9c8bb116b"},
 ]
 mkdocs = [
diff --git a/poetry/utils/env.py b/poetry/utils/env.py
index e3d065eb1bf..b7bc5f45176 100644
--- a/poetry/utils/env.py
+++ b/poetry/utils/env.py
@@ -15,12 +15,14 @@
 from typing import List
 from typing import Optional
 from typing import Tuple
+from typing import Union
 
 import tomlkit
 
 from clikit.api.io import IO
 
 import packaging.tags
+import virtualenv
 
 from packaging.tags import Tag
 from packaging.tags import interpreter_name
@@ -141,27 +143,6 @@ def _version_nodot(version):
 print(json.dumps(sysconfig.get_paths()))
 """
 
-CREATE_VENV_COMMAND = """\
-path = {!r}
-
-try:
-    from venv import EnvBuilder
-
-    builder = EnvBuilder(with_pip=True)
-    builder.create(path)
-except ImportError:
-    try:
-        # We fallback on virtualenv for Python 2.7
-        from virtualenv import create_environment
-
-        create_environment(path)
-    except ImportError:
-        # since virtualenv>20 we have to use cli_run
-        from virtualenv import cli_run
-
-        cli_run([path])
-"""
-
 
 class EnvError(Exception):
 
@@ -697,43 +678,20 @@ def create_venv(
         return VirtualEnv(venv)
 
     @classmethod
-    def build_venv(cls, path, executable=None):
-        if executable is not None:
-            # Create virtualenv by using an external executable
-            try:
-                p = subprocess.Popen(
-                    list_to_shell_command([executable, "-"]),
-                    stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
-                    shell=True,
-                )
-                p.communicate(encode(CREATE_VENV_COMMAND.format(path)))
-            except CalledProcessError as e:
-                raise EnvCommandError(e)
-
-            return
-
-        try:
-            from venv import EnvBuilder
-
-            # use the same defaults as python -m venv
-            if os.name == "nt":
-                use_symlinks = False
-            else:
-                use_symlinks = True
-
-            builder = EnvBuilder(with_pip=True, symlinks=use_symlinks)
-            builder.create(path)
-        except ImportError:
-            try:
-                # We fallback on virtualenv for Python 2.7
-                from virtualenv import create_environment
-
-                create_environment(path)
-            except ImportError:
-                # since virtualenv>20 we have to use cli_run
-                from virtualenv import cli_run
-
-                cli_run([path])
+    def build_venv(
+        cls, path, executable=None
+    ):  # type: (str, Optional[Union[str, Path]]) -> virtualenv.run.session.Session
+        if isinstance(executable, Path):
+            executable = executable.resolve()
+        return virtualenv.cli_run(
+            [
+                "--no-download",
+                "--no-periodic-update",
+                "--python",
+                executable or sys.executable,
+                path,
+            ]
+        )
 
     def remove_venv(self, path):  # type: (str) -> None
         shutil.rmtree(path)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 4fc92753817..ea42cddf180 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ shellingham = "^1.1"
 tomlkit = "^0.5.11"
 pexpect = "^4.7.0"
 packaging = "^20.4"
+virtualenv = { version = "^20.0.26" }
 
 # The typing module is not in the stdlib in Python 2.7
 typing = { version = "^3.6", python = "~2.7" }
@@ -48,8 +49,6 @@ pathlib2 = { version = "^2.3", python = "~2.7" }
 futures = { version = "^3.3.0", python = "~2.7" }
 # Use glob2 for Python 2.7 and 3.4
 glob2 = { version = "^0.6", python = "~2.7" }
-# Use virtualenv for Python 2.7 since venv does not exist
-virtualenv = { version = "^20.0.18", python = "~2.7" }
 # functools32 is needed for Python 2.7
 functools32 = { version = "^3.2.3", python = "~2.7" }
 keyring = [
diff --git a/tests/utils/test_env.py b/tests/utils/test_env.py
index 800fc9b60f4..3873d568a02 100644
--- a/tests/utils/test_env.py
+++ b/tests/utils/test_env.py
@@ -535,17 +535,9 @@ def test_remove_also_deactivates(tmp_dir, manager, poetry, config, mocker):
     assert venv_name not in envs
 
 
+@pytest.mark.skipif(os.name == "nt", reason="Symlinks are not support for Windows")
 def test_env_has_symlinks_on_nix(tmp_dir, tmp_venv):
-    venv_available = False
-    try:
-        from venv import EnvBuilder  # noqa
-
-        venv_available = True
-    except ImportError:
-        pass
-
-    if os.name != "nt" and venv_available:
-        assert os.path.islink(tmp_venv.python)
+    assert os.path.islink(tmp_venv.python)
 
 
 def test_run_with_input(tmp_dir, tmp_venv):