diff --git a/scripts/install.sh b/scripts/install.sh
index 4badeac..e23592f 100755
--- a/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/install.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
+# install the heartbeat client, hbc. The server is installed when the arg 'server' is passed 
 # install the heartbeat client, hbc. The server is installed when the arg 'server' is passed 
 # to the script. The script will install the heartbeat tools in a python 
 # virtual environment in ~/venvs/hbd. The hbd and hbc commands will be
@@ -14,11 +15,27 @@
 set -e
 what=$1
 
-for where in ~/.local/bin ~/bin; do
-    if echo ":$PATH:" | grep -q ":$where:" ; then
-        break
+if [ -d /homeassistant ]; then
+    echo "cannot install in HA, run \"docker exec -it homeassistant $0 $@\""
+    exit 1
+fi
+if [ -d /config ]; then
+    echo "Installing on HA"
+    where="/config/bin"
+    venv="/config/venvs"
+else
+    if [ ! -d ~/.local/bin ] && [ ! -d ~/bin ]; then
+        echo "No suitable bin directory found in PATH, please add either ~/.local/bin or ~/bin to your PATH"
+        exit 1
     fi
-done
+    for where in ~/bin ~/.local/bin; do
+        if echo ":$PATH:" | grep -q ":$where:" ; then
+            break
+        fi
+    done
+    venv="~/venvs"
+fi
+python3 -m pip --version > /dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "pip is not installed, please install pip for python3"; exit 1; }
 
 if [ "$what" = "server" ]; then
     echo "Installing heartbeat server (hbd)"
@@ -26,11 +43,11 @@ else
     what="client"
     echo "Installing heartbeat client (hbc)"
 fi
-if [ ! -d  ~/venvs/hbd ]; then
-    mkdir -p ~/venvs
-    python3 -m venv ~/venvs/hbd --system-site-packages
+if [ ! -d  $venv/hbd ]; then
+    mkdir -p $venv
+    python3 -m venv $venv/hbd --system-site-packages
 fi
-. ~/venvs/hbd/bin/activate
+. $venv/hbd/bin/activate
 pip install --index-url https://git.wrede.ca/api/packages/andreas/pypi/simple/ --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple hbd[$what]
 if [ "$what" = "server" ]; then
     rm -f ~$where/hbd