diff --git a/src/update.c b/src/update.c
index 59af720d..165a5438 100644
--- a/src/update.c
+++ b/src/update.c
@@ -45,9 +45,24 @@ static int requested_version = -1;
 static bool download_only = false;
 static bool update_search_file_index = false;
 static bool keepcache = false;
+static char swupd_binary[LINE_MAX] = { 0 };
 
 int nonpack;
 
+static void save_swupd_binary_path()
+{
+	/* we need to resolve the whole path to swupd first, proc/self/exe
+		 * is a symbolic link to the executable that is running the current process */
+	int path_length;
+	path_length = readlink("/proc/self/exe", swupd_binary, sizeof(swupd_binary));
+	if (path_length <= 0 || path_length >= LINE_MAX) {
+		// On errors fallback to default location
+		strncpy(swupd_binary, "/usr/bin/swupd", sizeof(swupd_binary));
+	} else {
+		swupd_binary[path_length] = '\0';
+	}
+}
+
 /* This loads the upstream Clear Manifest.Full and local
  * Manifest.full, and then checks that there are no conflicts between
  * the files they both include */
@@ -243,6 +258,8 @@ static enum swupd_code main_update()
 	/* start the timer used to report the total time to telemetry */
 	clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW, &ts_start);
 
+	save_swupd_binary_path();
+
 	/* Step 1: Preparation steps */
 	timelist_timer_start(globals.global_times, "Prepare for update");
 	progress_set_step(1, "prepare_for_update");
@@ -572,17 +589,6 @@ clean_curl:
 			return SWUPD_INVALID_BINARY;
 		}
 
-		/* we need to resolve the whole path to swupd first, proc/self/exe
-		 * is a symbolic link to the executable that is running the current process */
-		char swupd_binary[LINE_MAX];
-		int path_length;
-		path_length = readlink("/proc/self/exe", swupd_binary, sizeof(swupd_binary));
-		if (path_length <= 0 || path_length >= LINE_MAX) {
-			error("Could not determine the swupd path\n");
-			return -1;
-		}
-		swupd_binary[path_length] = '\0';
-
 		/* Run the swupd_argv saved from main */
 		return execv(swupd_binary, globals.swupd_argv);
 	}