diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 125e651..5018540 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -125,6 +125,13 @@ nvm_detect_profile() {
 # Node, and warn them if so.
 #
 nvm_check_global_modules() {
+  command -v npm >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 0
+
+  local NPM_VERSION
+  NPM_VERSION="$(npm --version)"
+  NPM_VERSION="${NPM_VERSION:-0}"
+  [ "${NPM_VERSION%%[!0-9]*}" -gt 1 ] || return 0
+
   local NPM_GLOBAL_MODULES
   NPM_GLOBAL_MODULES=$(npm list -g --depth=0 | sed '/ npm@/d')
   
diff --git a/test/install_script/nvm_check_global_modules b/test/install_script/nvm_check_global_modules
index 4a5661c..10e0d40 100755
--- a/test/install_script/nvm_check_global_modules
+++ b/test/install_script/nvm_check_global_modules
@@ -4,14 +4,19 @@ cleanup () {
   rm -rf "$npm_config_prefix/lib" >/dev/null 2>&1
   unset npm_config_prefix
 
+  rm -f npm
+  PATH="$ORIGINAL_PATH"
+
   unset -f setup cleanup die skip
-  unset message
+  unset message ORIGINAL_PATH
 }
 die () { echo $@ ; cleanup ; exit 1; }
 
 NVM_ENV=testing . ../../install.sh
 
 setup () {
+  ORIGINAL_PATH="$PATH"
+
   npm_config_prefix="$(pwd)"
   export npm_config_prefix
   mkdir -p "$npm_config_prefix/lib"
@@ -37,4 +42,13 @@ JSON
 message=$(nvm_check_global_modules)
 [ -z "$message" ] || die "nvm_check_global_modules should have not printed a notice when npm had only itself installed as a global module"
 
+# Faking the absence of npm
+PATH=".:$PATH"
+touch npm
+chmod +x npm
+
+message=$(nvm_check_global_modules)
+[ -z "$message" ] || die "nvm_check_global_modules should have not printed a notice when npm was unavailable"
+
+
 cleanup