diff --git a/.changeset/spicy-panthers-agree.md b/.changeset/spicy-panthers-agree.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..437430dbdba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/spicy-panthers-agree.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/config": patch
+"@pnpm/plugin-commands-installation": patch
+"pnpm": patch
+---
+
+Only the `pnpm add --global <pkg>` command should fail if there is no global pnpm bin directory in the system PATH [#5841](https://github.com/pnpm/pnpm/issues/5841).
diff --git a/config/config/src/index.ts b/config/config/src/index.ts
index 5ebc1dfe2cd..0d240f9a7f5 100644
--- a/config/config/src/index.ts
+++ b/config/config/src/index.ts
@@ -316,10 +316,6 @@ export async function getConfig (
     if (pnpmConfig.bin) {
       fs.mkdirSync(pnpmConfig.bin, { recursive: true })
       await checkGlobalBinDir(pnpmConfig.bin, { env, shouldAllowWrite: opts.globalDirShouldAllowWrite })
-    } else {
-      throw new PnpmError('NO_GLOBAL_BIN_DIR', 'Unable to find the global bin directory', {
-        hint: 'Run "pnpm setup" to create it automatically, or set the global-bin-dir setting, or the PNPM_HOME env variable. The global bin directory should be in the PATH.',
-      })
     }
     pnpmConfig.save = true
     pnpmConfig.allowNew = true
diff --git a/pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/src/add.ts b/pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/src/add.ts
index cd26435bfa5..be9a6cafdf5 100644
--- a/pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/src/add.ts
+++ b/pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/src/add.ts
@@ -193,6 +193,11 @@ export async function handler (
       'If you don\'t want to see this warning anymore, you may set the ignore-workspace-root-check setting to true.'
     )
   }
+  if (opts.global && !opts.bin) {
+    throw new PnpmError('NO_GLOBAL_BIN_DIR', 'Unable to find the global bin directory', {
+      hint: 'Run "pnpm setup" to create it automatically, or set the global-bin-dir setting, or the PNPM_HOME env variable. The global bin directory should be in the PATH.',
+    })
+  }
 
   const include = {
     dependencies: opts.production !== false,
diff --git a/pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/test/add.ts b/pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/test/add.ts
index d3d96d3da4f..d66fe50c8fe 100644
--- a/pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/test/add.ts
+++ b/pkg-manager/plugin-commands-installation/test/add.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import path from 'path'
 import { PnpmError } from '@pnpm/error'
 import { add, remove } from '@pnpm/plugin-commands-installation'
-import { prepare, preparePackages } from '@pnpm/prepare'
+import { prepare, prepareEmpty, preparePackages } from '@pnpm/prepare'
 import { REGISTRY_MOCK_PORT } from '@pnpm/registry-mock'
 import loadJsonFile from 'load-json-file'
 import tempy from 'tempy'
@@ -330,3 +330,23 @@ test('pnpm add automatically installs missing peer dependencies', async () => {
   const lockfile = await project.readLockfile()
   expect(Object.keys(lockfile.packages).length).toBe(5)
 })
+
+test('add: fail when global bin directory is not found', async () => {
+  prepareEmpty()
+
+  let err!: PnpmError
+  try {
+    await add.handler({
+      ...DEFAULT_OPTIONS,
+      bin: undefined as any, // eslint-disable-line
+      dir: path.resolve('project-1'),
+      global: true,
+      linkWorkspacePackages: false,
+      saveWorkspaceProtocol: false,
+      workspace: true,
+    }, ['@pnpm.e2e/hello-world-js-bin'])
+  } catch (_err: any) { // eslint-disable-line
+    err = _err
+  }
+  expect(err.code).toBe('ERR_PNPM_NO_GLOBAL_BIN_DIR')
+})