diff --git a/utils/src/com/cloud/utils/ProcessUtil.java b/utils/src/com/cloud/utils/ProcessUtil.java
index 7f16f98d1c7..e64c931032e 100644
--- a/utils/src/com/cloud/utils/ProcessUtil.java
+++ b/utils/src/com/cloud/utils/ProcessUtil.java
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ public class ProcessUtil {
 				finputstream.close();
 				dir = props.getProperty("paths.pid");
 				if (dir == null) {
-					dir = "/var/run";
+					dir = pidDir==null?"/var/run":pidDir;
 				}
 			}
 		} catch (IOException e) {
diff --git a/utils/test/com/cloud/utils/ProcessUtilTest.java b/utils/test/com/cloud/utils/ProcessUtilTest.java
index 8f563c303aa..503a855cfa9 100644
--- a/utils/test/com/cloud/utils/ProcessUtilTest.java
+++ b/utils/test/com/cloud/utils/ProcessUtilTest.java
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ public class ProcessUtilTest {
 
     @Before
     public void setup() throws IOException {
-        pidFile = File.createTempFile("test", ".pid", new File("/var/run"));
+        pidFile = File.createTempFile("test", ".pid");
     }
 
     @After