diff --git a/nvm-exec b/nvm-exec
index 44d5ddb..af0f0ad 100755
--- a/nvm-exec
+++ b/nvm-exec
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-DIR="$(command cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+DIR="$(dirname "$(realpath "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")"
 
 unset NVM_CD_FLAGS
 
diff --git a/nvm.sh b/nvm.sh
index d943896..6cb21d6 100755
--- a/nvm.sh
+++ b/nvm.sh
@@ -4080,8 +4080,14 @@ nvm() {
           nvm_echo "Running node ${VERSION}$(nvm use --silent "${VERSION}" && nvm_print_npm_version)"
         fi
       fi
-      NODE_VERSION="${VERSION}" "${NVM_DIR}/nvm-exec" "$@"
+
+      NVM_EXEC="${NVM_DIR}/nvm-exec"
+      if [ ! -f "${NVM_EXEC}" ]; then
+        NVM_EXEC="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]-}")/nvm-exec"
+      fi
+      NODE_VERSION="${VERSION}" "${NVM_EXEC}" "$@"
     ;;
+
     "ls" | "list")
       local PATTERN
       local NVM_NO_COLORS
diff --git a/test/slow/nvm exec/Running 'nvm exec --lts' when NVM_DIR differs from nvm b/test/slow/nvm exec/Running 'nvm exec --lts' when NVM_DIR differs from nvm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee314be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/slow/nvm exec/Running 'nvm exec --lts' when NVM_DIR differs from nvm	
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -ex
+
+die () { echo "$@" ; exit 1; }
+
+INSTPATH="$(mktemp -p "$(pwd)" -d)"
+trap 'test ! -z "${INSTPATH-}" && test -d "$INSTPATH" && rm -rf "$INSTPATH"' EXIT
+declare -x NVM_DIR=$INSTPATH
+\. ../../../nvm.sh
+
+nvm install --lts || die 'nvm install --lts failed'
+nvm exec --lts npm --version || die "`nvm exec` failed to run"
+declare -x NODE_VERSION="$(nvm exec --lts --silent node --version)"
+
+ln -s ../../../../nvm-exec "$INSTPATH/nvm-exec" || die "failed to create a symlink to $INSTPATH/"
+"$INSTPATH/nvm-exec" npm ls > /dev/null || die "`nvm exec` failed to run using nvm-exec helper"
+