diff --git a/ts/manager.nodejs/index.ts b/ts/manager.nodejs/index.ts
index 08016dd..1b5183b 100644
--- a/ts/manager.nodejs/index.ts
+++ b/ts/manager.nodejs/index.ts
@@ -62,7 +62,6 @@ export class NpmciNodeJsManager {
     await bash('npm install -g npm');
     await bash('node -v');
     await bash('npm -v');
-    await bash(`npm config set cache ${paths.NpmciCacheDir}  --global `);
 
     // lets look for further config
     const config = await this.npmciRef.npmciConfig.getConfig();
diff --git a/ts/manager.npm/index.ts b/ts/manager.npm/index.ts
index d46d7e9..5bc9b7a 100644
--- a/ts/manager.npm/index.ts
+++ b/ts/manager.npm/index.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import * as plugins from './mod.plugins';
+import * as paths from '../npmci.paths';
 
 import { logger } from '../npmci.logging';
 import { bash, bashNoError, nvmAvailable } from '../npmci.bash';
@@ -73,6 +74,10 @@ export class NpmciNpmManager {
 
     // lets save it to disk
     plugins.smartfile.memory.toFsSync(npmrcFileString, '/root/.npmrc');
+
+    // lets set the cache directory
+    await bash(`npm config set cache ${paths.NpmciCacheDir}  --global `);
+
     return;
   }