diff --git a/openerp/tools/config.py b/openerp/tools/config.py
index 588c2dedf9f..9a054772695 100644
--- a/openerp/tools/config.py
+++ b/openerp/tools/config.py
@@ -433,7 +433,9 @@ class configmanager(object):
 
         self.options['root_path'] = os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(os.path.expandvars(os.path.dirname(openerp.__file__))))
         if not self.options['addons_path'] or self.options['addons_path']=='None':
-            self.options['addons_path'] = os.path.join(self.options['root_path'], 'addons')
+            base_addons = os.path.join(self.options['root_path'], 'addons')
+            main_addons = os.path.abspath(os.path.join(self.options['root_path'], '../addons'))
+            self.options['addons_path'] = '%s,%s' % (base_addons, main_addons)
         else:
             self.options['addons_path'] = ",".join(
                     os.path.abspath(os.path.expanduser(os.path.expandvars(x)))