diff --git a/node/server.js b/node/server.js
index 461e82693..8c70e075d 100644
--- a/node/server.js
+++ b/node/server.js
@@ -45,8 +45,9 @@ var socketIORouter;
 var version = "";
 try
 {
-  var ref = fs.readFileSync("../.git/HEAD", "utf-8");
-  var refPath = "../.git/" + ref.substring(5, ref.indexOf("\n"));
+  var rootPath = path.normalize(__dirname + "/../")
+  var ref = fs.readFileSync(rootPath + ".git/HEAD", "utf-8");
+  var refPath = rootPath + ".git/" + ref.substring(5, ref.indexOf("\n"));
   version = fs.readFileSync(refPath, "utf-8");
   version = version.substring(0, 7);
   console.log("Your Etherpad Lite git version is " + version);