diff --git a/gns3server/modules/qemu/__init__.py b/gns3server/modules/qemu/__init__.py
index 608dd15a..13cc8bb7 100644
--- a/gns3server/modules/qemu/__init__.py
+++ b/gns3server/modules/qemu/__init__.py
@@ -70,9 +70,9 @@ class Qemu(BaseManager):
             if "PROGRAMFILES" in os.environ and os.path.exists(os.environ["PROGRAMFILES"]):
                 paths.add(os.path.join(os.environ["PROGRAMFILES"], "qemu"))
         elif sys.platform.startswith("darwin"):
-            # add specific locations on Mac OS X regardless of what's in $PATH
-            paths.update(["/usr/bin", "/usr/local/bin", "/opt/local/bin"])
             if hasattr(sys, "frozen"):
+                # add specific locations on Mac OS X regardless of what's in $PATH
+                paths.update(["/usr/bin", "/usr/local/bin", "/opt/local/bin"])
                 try:
                     exec_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(sys.executable))
                     paths.add(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(exec_dir, "../Resources/qemu/bin/")))
diff --git a/gns3server/modules/qemu/qemu_vm.py b/gns3server/modules/qemu/qemu_vm.py
index 9dc56a92..f65e12dd 100644
--- a/gns3server/modules/qemu/qemu_vm.py
+++ b/gns3server/modules/qemu/qemu_vm.py
@@ -142,7 +142,10 @@ class QemuVM(BaseVM):
         """
 
         if qemu_path and os.pathsep not in qemu_path:
-            qemu_path = shutil.which(qemu_path)
+            new_qemu_path = shutil.which(qemu_path, path=os.pathsep.join(self._manager.paths_list()))
+            if new_qemu_path is None:
+                raise QemuError("QEMU binary path {} is not found in the path".format(qemu_path))
+            qemu_path = new_qemu_path
 
         self._check_qemu_path(qemu_path)
         self._qemu_path = qemu_path
@@ -161,7 +164,7 @@ class QemuVM(BaseVM):
 
     def _check_qemu_path(self, qemu_path):
         if qemu_path is None:
-            raise QemuError("QEMU binary path is not set or not found in the path")
+            raise QemuError("QEMU binary path is not set")
         if not os.path.exists(qemu_path):
             raise QemuError("QEMU binary '{}' is not accessible".format(qemu_path))
         if not os.access(qemu_path, os.X_OK):
diff --git a/tests/modules/qemu/test_qemu_vm.py b/tests/modules/qemu/test_qemu_vm.py
index ad6e3916..2525fb71 100644
--- a/tests/modules/qemu/test_qemu_vm.py
+++ b/tests/modules/qemu/test_qemu_vm.py
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ import re
 from tests.utils import asyncio_patch
 
 
+from unittest import mock
 from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
+
 from gns3server.modules.qemu.qemu_vm import QemuVM
 from gns3server.modules.qemu.qemu_error import QemuError
 from gns3server.modules.qemu import Qemu
@@ -276,9 +278,9 @@ def test_set_platform(project, manager):
         with patch("gns3server.modules.qemu.QemuVM._check_qemu_path"):
             vm = QemuVM("test", "00010203-0405-0607-0809-0a0b0c0d0e0f", project, manager, platform="x86_64")
             if sys.platform.startswith("win"):
-                which_mock.assert_called_with("qemu-system-x86_64w.exe")
+                which_mock.assert_called_with("qemu-system-x86_64w.exe", path=mock.ANY)
             else:
-                which_mock.assert_called_with("qemu-system-x86_64")
+                which_mock.assert_called_with("qemu-system-x86_64", path=mock.ANY)
     assert vm.platform == "x86_64"
     assert vm.qemu_path == "/bin/qemu-system-x86_64"