diff --git a/tests/options/NVM_PREFER_LOCAL_BINS b/tests/options/NVM_PREFER_LOCAL_BINS
index 4718fc6..0a886a7 100755
--- a/tests/options/NVM_PREFER_LOCAL_BINS
+++ b/tests/options/NVM_PREFER_LOCAL_BINS
@@ -4,11 +4,7 @@ source ../common.sh
 # Setup projects in tmp, so we don't have ancestor paths of this repo messing
 # with things.
 cd $(mktemp -d)
-# npm bin can resolve to a different path (/private/var instead of /var) on some
-# platforms. It also resolves to the current directory if there is no
-# package.json up the current path. So, we use it to expand our path.
-sandbox=$(dirname $(dirname $(npm bin)))
-echo "Running NVM_PREFER_LOCAL_BINS in $sandbox\n"
+echo "Running NVM_PREFER_LOCAL_BINS in $(pwd)\n"
 
 mkdir -p package/src/a/b
 touch package/package.json
@@ -18,8 +14,21 @@ touch package/vendor/package.json
 # Load it.
 export NVM_PREFER_LOCAL_BINS=true
 load_zsh_nvm
+
+# Check cding without node installed (shouldn't fail)
+cd ./package
+cd ./src/a/b
+cd ../../../..
+
+# Now test with node installed
+nvm install 8
+nvm use 8
 # This is our base path, without any local binary paths in it.
 base_path=$PATH
+# npm bin can resolve to a different path (/private/var instead of /var) on some
+# platforms. It also resolves to the current directory if there is no
+# package.json up the current path. So, we use it to expand our path.
+sandbox=$(dirname $(dirname $(npm bin)))
 
 # Check cd directly into a package directory
 cd ./package
diff --git a/zsh-nvm.plugin.zsh b/zsh-nvm.plugin.zsh
index 68ec0fd..ee35705 100644
--- a/zsh-nvm.plugin.zsh
+++ b/zsh-nvm.plugin.zsh
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ _zsh_nvm_install_wrapper() {
 }
 
 _zsh_nvm_add_local_bin_path() {
+  _zsh_nvm_has npm || return # No-op until we have a copy of node in our env.
   local nearest_package=$(nvm_find_up package.json)
   # Skip if we're moving within a project (npm bin is slow).
   #