diff --git a/src/IKVM.Runtime/LibIkvm.cs b/src/IKVM.Runtime/LibIkvm.cs
index 5ceb9cabb..4235c8b54 100644
--- a/src/IKVM.Runtime/LibIkvm.cs
+++ b/src/IKVM.Runtime/LibIkvm.cs
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ static nint Load()
                 return h1;
 
             // start looking at assembly path, or path given by environmental variable
-            var asml = typeof(NativeLibrary).Assembly.Location is string s ? Path.GetDirectoryName(s) : null;
+            var asml = typeof(NativeLibrary).Assembly.Location is string s && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(s) ? Path.GetDirectoryName(s) : null;
             var root = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("IKVM_LIBRARY_PATH") ?? asml ?? AppContext.BaseDirectory;
 
             // assembly possible loaded in memory: we have no available search path