diff --git a/src/corehost/common/pal.unix.cpp b/src/corehost/common/pal.unix.cpp
index ead8034d8..b060afcc0 100644
--- a/src/corehost/common/pal.unix.cpp
+++ b/src/corehost/common/pal.unix.cpp
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
 #include <dlfcn.h>
 #include <dirent.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#include <pwd.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 
 #if defined(__APPLE__)
 #include <mach-o/dyld.h>
@@ -83,12 +86,22 @@ bool pal::is_path_rooted(const pal::string_t& path)
 bool pal::get_default_packages_directory(pal::string_t* recv)
 {
     recv->clear();
-    if (!pal::getenv("HOME", recv))
+    pal::string_t dir;
+    if (!pal::getenv("HOME", &dir))
+    {
+        struct passwd* pw = getpwuid(getuid());
+        if (pw && pw->pw_dir)
+        {
+            dir.assign(pw->pw_dir);
+        }
+    }
+    if (dir.empty())
     {
         return false;
     }
-    append_path(&*recv, _X(".nuget"));
-    append_path(&*recv, _X("packages"));
+    append_path(&dir, _X(".nuget"));
+    append_path(&dir, _X("packages"));
+    recv->assign(dir);
     return true;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/corehost/common/pal.windows.cpp b/src/corehost/common/pal.windows.cpp
index d70bd60e9..8a7a9a960 100644
--- a/src/corehost/common/pal.windows.cpp
+++ b/src/corehost/common/pal.windows.cpp
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ static std::wstring_convert<std::codecvt_utf8<wchar_t>, wchar_t> g_converter;
 bool pal::find_coreclr(pal::string_t* recv)
 {
     pal::string_t candidate;
-    pal::string_t test;
 
     // Try %LocalAppData%\dotnet
     if (pal::getenv(_X("LocalAppData"), &candidate)) {
@@ -27,7 +26,19 @@ bool pal::find_coreclr(pal::string_t* recv)
         }
     }
 
-    // TODO: Try somewhere in Program Files, see https://github.com/dotnet/cli/issues/249
+
+    // Try %ProgramFiles%. Note this works for both x86 and x64/wow64 as per:
+    // https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa384274(v=vs.85).aspx
+
+    // candidate.clear(); getenv clears it.
+    if (pal::getenv(_X("ProgramFiles"), &candidate)) {
+        append_path(&candidate, _X("dotnet"));
+        append_path(&candidate, _X("bin"));
+        if (coreclr_exists_in_dir(candidate)) {
+            recv->assign(candidate);
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
     return false;
 }