diff --git a/ixmp/ixmp.R b/ixmp/ixmp.R
index c6c5aa354..5fc4a254e 100644
--- a/ixmp/ixmp.R
+++ b/ixmp/ixmp.R
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ ixmp_r_path = Sys.getenv("IXMP_R_PATH")
 java.pars <- paste0("-Djava.ext.dirs=", file.path(ixmp_r_path, "lib"))
 options(java.parameters = java.pars)
 
+# path to access the local db
+local_path <- file.path(paste0(gsub("Documents.*","",path.expand("~")),".local/ixmp"))
+
 ## Launch the java virtual machine, add ixmp_r_path (in addition to jar file)
 .jinit(file.path(ixmp_r_path, "ixmp.jar")) 
 .jaddClassPath(ixmp_r_path)
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ ixmp.Platform <- setRefClass("ixmp.Platform",
         if (is.null(dbtype)) { 
           if (is.null(dbprops)) dbprops = 'default.properties'
           if (!file.exists(dbprops)) {
-              dbprops = paste(message_ix_path, "/config/",dbprops, sep = '')
+              dbprops = paste(message_ix_path, "/ixmp/config/",dbprops, sep = '')
               if (!file.exists(dbprops)) {
                  stop('no properties file ', dbprops , '!')
               }
@@ -48,7 +51,7 @@ ixmp.Platform <- setRefClass("ixmp.Platform",
           print(paste0("launching ixmp.Platform using config file at ", dbprops))
           .jobj <<- new(java.Platform, "R", dbprops) 
         } else {
-          if (is.null(dbprops)) stop('Please specify a local database file!')
+          if (is.null(dbprops)) dbprops = paste(local_path, "/localdb/default", sep = '')
           print(paste0("launching ixmp.Platform with local ",dbtype," database at "
                 , dbprops))
           .jobj <<- new(java.Platform, "R", dbprops, dbtype)
diff --git a/tutorial/transport/R_transport.ipynb b/tutorial/transport/R_transport.ipynb
index 86637d44f..fa1e82372 100644
--- a/tutorial/transport/R_transport.ipynb
+++ b/tutorial/transport/R_transport.ipynb
@@ -69,9 +69,7 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "# launch the ix modeling platform using a local HSQL database instance\n",
-    "mp <- ixmp.Platform(\"C:\\\\Users\\\\<user>\\\\.local\\\\ixmp\\\\localdb\\\\default2\", \"HSQLDB\")\n",
-    "\n",
-    "# TODO: the R package does not yet have an internal default path to a local directory for HSQL database instances"
+    "mp <- ixmp.Platform(dbtype=\"HSQLDB\")"
    ]
   },
   {
diff --git a/tutorial/transport/R_transport_scenario.ipynb b/tutorial/transport/R_transport_scenario.ipynb
index 9bae0e238..20787d247 100644
--- a/tutorial/transport/R_transport_scenario.ipynb
+++ b/tutorial/transport/R_transport_scenario.ipynb
@@ -53,9 +53,7 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "# launch the ix modeling platform using the local default database     \n",
-    "mp <- ixmp.Platform(\"C:\\\\Users\\\\<user>\\\\.local\\\\ixmp\\\\localdb\\\\default\", \"HSQLDB\")\n",
-    "\n",
-    "# TODO: the R package does not yet have an internal default path to a local directory for HSQL database instances"
+    "mp <- ixmp.Platform(dbtype=\"HSQLDB\")"
    ]
   },
   {