diff --git a/update-colvars-code.sh b/update-colvars-code.sh
index 567d53556..5c33a646f 100755
--- a/update-colvars-code.sh
+++ b/update-colvars-code.sh
@@ -143,9 +143,12 @@ copy_lepton() {
 
   if [ -d ${source}/openmm-source ] ; then
     OPENMM_SOURCE=${source}/openmm-source
+  elif [ -d ${source}/../openmm-source ] ; then
+    OPENMM_SOURCE=${source}/../openmm-source
   fi
 
   if [ -z "${OPENMM_SOURCE}" ] ; then
+    # Create a temp folder and download OpenMM into it
     OPENMM_SOURCE=$(mktemp -d /tmp/openmm-source-XXXXXX)
   fi