diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner.py b/lib/ansible/runner.py
index c7558086d9c..1cba37ce4fa 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner.py
@@ -253,13 +253,13 @@ class Runner(object):
                 if self.remote_user == 'root':
                     args = "%s metadata=/etc/ansible/setup" % args
                 else:
-                    args = "%s metadata=/home/%s/.ansible/setup" % (args, self.remote_user)
+                    args = "%s metadata=$HOME/.ansible/setup" % args
         else:
             if not 'metadata' in args:
                 if self.remote_user == 'root':
                     args['metadata'] = '/etc/ansible/setup'
                 else:
-                    args['metadata'] = "/home/%s/.ansible/setup" % (self.remote_user)
+                    args['metadata'] = "$HOME/.ansible/setup"
         return args   
  
     # *****************************************************
@@ -620,10 +620,14 @@ class Runner(object):
     def _get_tmp_path(self, conn):
         ''' gets a temporary path on a remote box '''
 
+        # The problem with this is that it's executed on the
+        # overlord, not on the target so we can't use tempdir and os.path
+        # Only support the *nix world for now by using the $HOME env var
+
         basetmp = "/var/tmp"
         if self.remote_user != 'root':
-            basetmp = "/home/%s/.ansible/tmp" % self.remote_user
-        cmd = "mktemp -d %s/ansible.XXXXXX" % basetmp 
+            basetmp = "$HOME/.ansible/tmp"
+        cmd = "mktemp -d %s/ansible.XXXXXX" % basetmp
         if self.remote_user != 'root':
             cmd = "mkdir -p %s && %s" % (basetmp, cmd)