diff --git a/base/scripts/usr/local/bin/before-notebook.d/12-r.sh b/base/scripts/usr/local/bin/before-notebook.d/12-r.sh
index 0d6d1c6ab4b390962cd42cfe947231bac1340751..a11354a6749bf71aaaf2c2be484b00e4d00e8e04 100755
--- a/base/scripts/usr/local/bin/before-notebook.d/12-r.sh
+++ b/base/scripts/usr/local/bin/before-notebook.d/12-r.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
 set -e
 
 if [ "$(id -u)" == 0 ] ; then
+  if [ "${NB_USER}" = "root" ] && [ "${NB_UID}" = "$(id -u "${NB_USER}")" ] && [ "${NB_GID}" = "$(id -g "${NB_USER}")" ]; then
+    HOME="/home/root"
+  fi
   # Create user's R package library
   RLU=$(run_user_group Rscript -e "cat(Sys.getenv('R_LIBS_USER'))")
   run_user_group mkdir -p "$RLU"