Index: paraview/Remoting/Core/vtkPVPluginLoader.cxx
===================================================================
--- paraview.orig/Remoting/Core/vtkPVPluginLoader.cxx	2024-10-25 12:19:32.776129201 +0200
+++ paraview/Remoting/Core/vtkPVPluginLoader.cxx	2024-10-25 12:23:02.033119142 +0200
@@ -307,12 +307,15 @@
     if (!appDir.empty())
     {
       appDir += "/plugins";
-      if (!paths.empty())
+      if (vtksys::SystemTools::FileIsDirectory(appDir))
       {
-        paths += ENV_PATH_SEP;
+	if (!paths.empty())
+	  {
+	    paths += ENV_PATH_SEP;
+	  }
+	paths += appDir;
+	vtkVLogF(PARAVIEW_LOG_PLUGIN_VERBOSITY(), "appDir: %s", appDir.c_str());
       }
-      paths += appDir;
-      vtkVLogF(PARAVIEW_LOG_PLUGIN_VERBOSITY(), "appDir: %s", appDir.c_str());
     }
 
     // pqPluginManager::pluginPaths() used to automatically load plugins a host