diff --git a/src/plugins/mpi/pmix/mpi_pmix.c b/src/plugins/mpi/pmix/mpi_pmix.c

index bbb947616c..65ec00ad73 100644

--- a/src/plugins/mpi/pmix/mpi_pmix.c

+++ b/src/plugins/mpi/pmix/mpi_pmix.c

@@ -105,10 +105,17 @@ static void *_libpmix_open(void)

 #elif defined PMIXP_V2_LIBPATH

 	xstrfmtcat(full_path, "%s/", PMIXP_V2_LIBPATH);

 #endif

-	xstrfmtcat(full_path, "libpmix.so");

+	xstrfmtcat(full_path, "libpmix.so.2");

 	lib_plug = dlopen(full_path, RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_GLOBAL);

 	xfree(full_path);

+	if (!lib_plug) {

+		dlerror();

+		xstrfmtcat(full_path, "libpmix.so.1");

+		lib_plug = dlopen(full_path, RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_GLOBAL);

+		xfree(full_path);

+	}

+

 	if (lib_plug && (HAVE_PMIX_VER != pmixp_lib_get_version())) {

 		PMIXP_ERROR("pmi/pmix: incorrect PMIx library version loaded %d was loaded, required %d version",

 			    pmixp_lib_get_version(), (int)HAVE_PMIX_VER);