diff --git a/src/server/project.ts b/src/server/project.ts
index 44ec0bff482c3..14c98583bd6a7 100644
--- a/src/server/project.ts
+++ b/src/server/project.ts
@@ -1606,6 +1606,16 @@ namespace ts.server {
             return !!this.program && this.program.isSourceOfProjectReferenceRedirect(fileName);
         }
 
+        /*@internal*/
+        protected getGlobalPluginSearchPaths() {
+            // Search any globally-specified probe paths, then our peer node_modules
+            return [
+                ...this.projectService.pluginProbeLocations,
+                // ../../.. to walk from X/node_modules/typescript/lib/tsserver.js to X/node_modules/
+                combinePaths(this.projectService.getExecutingFilePath(), "../../.."),
+            ];
+        }
+
         protected enableGlobalPlugins(options: CompilerOptions, pluginConfigOverrides: Map<any> | undefined): void {
             if (!this.projectService.globalPlugins.length) return;
             const host = this.projectService.host;
@@ -1615,14 +1625,8 @@ namespace ts.server {
                 return;
             }
 
-            // Search any globally-specified probe paths, then our peer node_modules
-            const searchPaths = [
-                ...this.projectService.pluginProbeLocations,
-                // ../../.. to walk from X/node_modules/typescript/lib/tsserver.js to X/node_modules/
-                combinePaths(this.projectService.getExecutingFilePath(), "../../.."),
-            ];
-
             // Enable global plugins with synthetic configuration entries
+            const searchPaths = this.getGlobalPluginSearchPaths();
             for (const globalPluginName of this.projectService.globalPlugins) {
                 // Skip empty names from odd commandline parses
                 if (!globalPluginName) continue;
@@ -2530,10 +2534,7 @@ namespace ts.server {
                 return;
             }
 
-            // Search our peer node_modules, then any globally-specified probe paths
-            // ../../.. to walk from X/node_modules/typescript/lib/tsserver.js to X/node_modules/
-            const searchPaths = [combinePaths(this.projectService.getExecutingFilePath(), "../../.."), ...this.projectService.pluginProbeLocations];
-
+            const searchPaths = this.getGlobalPluginSearchPaths();
             if (this.projectService.allowLocalPluginLoads) {
                 const local = getDirectoryPath(this.canonicalConfigFilePath);
                 this.projectService.logger.info(`Local plugin loading enabled; adding ${local} to search paths`);