diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4dffe5f26..c8a013ecc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -51,24 +51,50 @@ This step requires `cmake` to be installed.
 
 2. Install ONNX Runtime
 
+    By default, the onnxruntime-genai build expects to find the ONNX Runtime include and binaries in a folder called `ort` in the root directory of onnxruntime-genai. You can put the ONNX Runtime files in a different location and specify this location to the onnxruntime-genai build. These instructions use ORT_HOME as the location.
+
     * Install from release
 
       These instructions are for the Linux GPU build of ONNX Runtime. Replace the location with the operating system and target of choice. 
 
       ```bash
-      mkdir -p ort
-      cd ort
+      cd $ORT_HOME
       wget https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime/releases/download/v1.17.0/onnxruntime-linux-x64-gpu-1.17.0.tgz
       tar xvzf onnxruntime-linux-x64-gpu-1.17.0.tgz 
       mv onnxruntime-linux-x64-gpu-1.17.0/include .
       mv onnxruntime-linux-x64-gpu-1.17.0/lib .
       ```
 
-    * Or copy equivalent files from a local source build
+    * Or build from source
+
       ```
       git clone https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime.git
       cd onnxruntime
-      ./build.sh --build_shared_lib --skip_tests --parallel [--use_cuda] 
+      ```
+
+      Create include and lib folders in the ORT_HOME directory
+
+      ```bash
+      mkdir $ORT_HOME/include
+      mkdir $ORT_HOME/lib
+      ```
+
+      Build from source and copy the include and libraries into ORT_HOME
+
+      On Windows
+
+      ```cmd
+      build.bat --build_shared_lib --skip_tests --parallel [--use_cuda]
+      copy include\onnxruntime\core\session\onnxruntime_c_api.h $ORT_HOME\include
+      copy build\Windows\Debug\Debug\*.dll $ORT_HOME\lib
+      ```
+
+      On Linux
+
+      ```cmd
+      ./build.sh --build_shared_lib --skip_tests --parallel [--use_cuda]
+      cp include/onnxruntime/core/session/onnxruntime_c_api.h $ORT_HOME/include
+      cp build/Linux/RelWithDebInfo/libonnxruntime*.so* $ORT_HOME/lib
       ```
 
 3. Build onnxruntime-genai