diff --git a/src/EnergyPlus/PluginManager.cc b/src/EnergyPlus/PluginManager.cc
index b2310629ef5..333ec997fde 100644
--- a/src/EnergyPlus/PluginManager.cc
+++ b/src/EnergyPlus/PluginManager.cc
@@ -406,8 +406,12 @@ PluginManager::PluginManager(EnergyPlusData &state)
 {
 #if LINK_WITH_PYTHON == 1
     // we'll need the program directory for a few things so get it once here at the top and sanitize it
-    fs::path programPath = FileSystem::getAbsolutePath(FileSystem::getProgramPath());
-    fs::path programDir = FileSystem::getParentDirectoryPath(programPath);
+    fs::path programDir;
+    if (state.dataGlobal->installRootOverride) {
+        programDir = state.dataStrGlobals->exeDirectoryPath;
+    } else {
+        programDir = FileSystem::getParentDirectoryPath(FileSystem::getAbsolutePath(FileSystem::getProgramPath()));
+    }
     fs::path sanitizedProgramDir = PluginManager::sanitizedPath(programDir);
 
     // I think we need to set the python path before initializing the library