diff --git a/bin/aomp_common_vars b/bin/aomp_common_vars
index cf6846b97..791944be7 100644
--- a/bin/aomp_common_vars
+++ b/bin/aomp_common_vars
@@ -31,14 +31,25 @@ AOMP_VERSION_STRING=${AOMP_VERSION_STRING:-"$AOMP_VERSION-$AOMP_VERSION_MOD"}
 ROCM_EXPECTED_MODVERSION=${ROCM_EXPECTED_MODVERSION:-6.2.4}
 export AOMP_VERSION_STRING AOMP_VERSION AOMP_VERSION_MOD ROCM_VERSION ROCM_EXPECTED_MODVERSION
 
-# Set install directory and the link directory.
-# AOMP will be a symbolic link AOMP_INSTALL_DIR is the versioned dir name
-AOMP=${AOMP:-$HOME/rocm/aomp}
-AOMP_INSTALL_DIR=${AOMP}_${AOMP_VERSION_STRING}
-
-# For example, if AOMP_REPOS=$HOME/git/aomp11, then the primary aomp repo
-# is stored in $HOME/git/aomp11/aomp and the mono repo is stored in
-# $HOME/aomp/llvm-project.
+# Determine AOMP_INSTALL_DIR based on AOMP and if AOMP ends in lib/llvm
+# strip off the lib/llvm. BUILD scripts should only use AOMP_INSTALL_DIR, not AOMP.
+
+# NOTE regarding test scripts and test makefiles:
+# TEST scripts or Makefiles should use AOMP env variable to find the compiler
+# and runtimes. AOMP has a historic default to $HOME/rocm/aomp. But with the
+# new convention, that follows the ROCm directory structure, AOMP should really
+# be set to $HOME/rocm/aomp/lib/llvm. Some test scripts detect this historic
+# default and add the lib/llvm to find the compiler. Since AOMP uses the same
+# directory structure as /opt/rocm, setting AOMP=/opt/rocm/lib/llvm will use the
+# ROCm compiler.
+
+AOMP=${AOMP:-$HOME/rocm/aomp} # Assume test scripts will correct this.
+
+# In case AOMP ws preset and ends in lib/llvm (like most testers correctly do),
+# strip off the lib/llvm to determine AOMP_INSTALL_DIR.
+_aomp_libllvm_stripped=${AOMP%*\/lib\/llvm}
+AOMP_INSTALL_DIR=${AOMP_INSTALL_DIR:-${_aomp_libllvm_stripped}_${AOMP_VERSION_STRING}}
+
 AOMP_MAJOR_VERSION=${AOMP_VERSION%.*}
 export AOMP_MAJOR_VERSION
 AOMP_REPOS=${AOMP_REPOS:-${HOME}/git/aomp${AOMP_VERSION}}
@@ -170,6 +181,10 @@ AOMP_CXX_COMPILER=${AOMP_CXX_COMPILER:-$GCCXX}
 # Non standalone builds are done with ROCm builds.
 AOMP_STANDALONE_BUILD=${AOMP_STANDALONE_BUILD:-1}
 
+# BUILD scripts use the higher level AOMP_INSTALL_DIR for NON-compiler COMPONENTS
+# such as HIP, debugger, and profiler.  Compiler COMPONENTS are installed into
+# the lower level LLVM_INSTALL_LOC . If LLVM_INSTALL_LOC is not set, it defaults
+# to AOMP_INSTALL_DIR/lib/llvm. We strongly recommend NOT overriding LLVM_INSTALL_LOC.
 if [ "$AOMP_STANDALONE_BUILD" == 1 ] ; then
   LLVM_INSTALL_LOC=$AOMP_INSTALL_DIR/lib/llvm
 else
diff --git a/bin/build_flang-classic.sh b/bin/build_flang-classic.sh
index e6ccc9b2a..3f6a5374d 100755
--- a/bin/build_flang-classic.sh
+++ b/bin/build_flang-classic.sh
@@ -84,14 +84,16 @@ if [ "$1" == "-h" ] || [ "$1" == "help" ] || [ "$1" == "-help" ] ; then
   help_build_aomp
 fi
 
-if [ $AOMP_STANDALONE_BUILD == 1 ] ; then 
-   if [ ! -L $AOMP ] ; then 
-     if [ -d $AOMP ] ; then 
-        echo "ERROR: Directory $AOMP is a physical directory."
-        echo "       It must be a symbolic link or not exist"
-        exit 1
-     fi
-   fi
+if [ $AOMP_STANDALONE_BUILD == 1 ] ; then
+  _aomp_libllvm_stripped=${AOMP%*\/lib\/llvm}
+  if [ ! -L $_aomp_libllvm_stripped ] ; then
+    if [ -d $_aomp_libllvm_stripped ] ; then
+      echo "ERROR: Directory $_aomp_libllvm_stripped is a physical directory."
+      echo "       It must be a symbolic link or not exist"
+      echo "       Specify a different value for AOMP env variable"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  fi
 fi
 
 # Make sure we can update the install directory
diff --git a/bin/build_llvm-classic.sh b/bin/build_llvm-classic.sh
index 6e7e5c4fa..1718c1615 100755
--- a/bin/build_llvm-classic.sh
+++ b/bin/build_llvm-classic.sh
@@ -92,10 +92,12 @@ if [ "$1" == "-h" ] || [ "$1" == "help" ] || [ "$1" == "-help" ] ; then
 fi
 
 if [ $AOMP_STANDALONE_BUILD == 1 ] ; then
-   if [ ! -L $AOMP ] ; then
-     if [ -d $AOMP ] ; then
-        echo "ERROR: Directory $AOMP is a physical directory."
+   _aomp_libllvm_stripped=${AOMP%*\/lib\/llvm}
+   if [ ! -L $_aomp_libllvm_stripped ] ; then
+     if [ -d $_aomp_libllvm_stripped ] ; then
+        echo "ERROR: Directory $_aomp_libllvm_stripped is a physical directory."
         echo "       It must be a symbolic link or not exist"
+        echo "       Specify a different value for AOMP env variable"
         exit 1
      fi
    fi
diff --git a/bin/build_project.sh b/bin/build_project.sh
index 0c793ec43..db3b0fab0 100755
--- a/bin/build_project.sh
+++ b/bin/build_project.sh
@@ -140,10 +140,12 @@ if [ "$1" == "-h" ] || [ "$1" == "help" ] || [ "$1" == "-help" ] ; then
 fi
 
 if [ $AOMP_STANDALONE_BUILD == 1 ] ; then 
-   if [ ! -L $AOMP ] ; then 
-     if [ -d $AOMP ] ; then 
-        echo "ERROR: Directory $AOMP is a physical directory."
+   _aomp_libllvm_stripped=${AOMP%*\/lib\/llvm}
+   if [ ! -L $_aomp_libllvm_stripped ] ; then
+     if [ -d $_aomp_libllvm_stripped ] ; then
+        echo "ERROR: Directory $_aomp_libllvm_stripped is a physical directory."
         echo "       It must be a symbolic link or not exist"
+        echo "       Specify a different value for AOMP env variable"
         exit 1
      fi
    fi
@@ -258,12 +260,12 @@ if [ "$1" == "install" ] ; then
    fi
    if [ $AOMP_STANDALONE_BUILD == 1 ] ; then 
       echo " "
-      echo "------ Linking $INSTALL_PROJECT to $AOMP -------"
-      if [ -L $AOMP ] ; then 
-         $SUDO rm $AOMP   
+      _aomp_libllvm_stripped=${AOMP%*\/lib\/llvm}
+      echo "------ Linking $AOMP_INSTALL_DIR to $_aomp_libllvm_stripped -------"
+      if [ -L $_aomp_libllvm_stripped ] ; then
+         $SUDO rm $_aomp_libllvm_stripped
       fi
-      $SUDO ln -sf $AOMP_INSTALL_DIR $AOMP
-
+      $SUDO ln -sf $AOMP_INSTALL_DIR $_aomp_libllvm_stripped
    fi
 
    # add executables forgot by make install but needed for testing