diff --git a/src/Composer/Cache.php b/src/Composer/Cache.php
index 1b0ad4770..492a94edd 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Cache.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Cache.php
@@ -25,15 +25,10 @@ class Cache
     private $root;
     private $enabled = true;
 
-    public function __construct(IOInterface $io, $cacheKey = null)
+    public function __construct(IOInterface $io, $cacheDir)
     {
         $this->io = $io;
-
-        if (defined('PHP_WINDOWS_VERSION_MAJOR')) {
-            $this->root = getenv('APPDATA') . rtrim('/Composer/cache/' . $cacheKey, '/') . '/';
-        } else {
-            $this->root = getenv('HOME') . rtrim('/.composer/cache/' . $cacheKey, '/') . '/';
-        }
+        $this->root = rtrim($cacheDir, '/\\') . '/';
 
         if (!is_dir($this->root)) {
             if (!@mkdir($this->root, 0777, true)) {
diff --git a/src/Composer/Config.php b/src/Composer/Config.php
index a052f60e4..9cb08d73f 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Config.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Config.php
@@ -58,6 +58,9 @@ class Config
                 $env = 'COMPOSER_' . strtoupper(strtr($key, '-', '_'));
                 return $this->process(getenv($env) ?: $this->config[$key]);
 
+            case 'home':
+                return rtrim($this->process($this->config[$key]), '/\\');
+
             default:
                 return $this->process($this->config[$key]);
         }
diff --git a/src/Composer/Factory.php b/src/Composer/Factory.php
index 295fabab1..4f3b799c8 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Factory.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Factory.php
@@ -32,19 +32,22 @@ class Factory
         // load main Composer configuration
         if (!$home = getenv('COMPOSER_HOME')) {
             if (defined('PHP_WINDOWS_VERSION_MAJOR')) {
-                $home = getenv('APPDATA') . '/Composer/';
+                $home = getenv('APPDATA') . '/Composer';
             } else {
-                $home = getenv('HOME') . '/.composer/';
+                $home = getenv('HOME') . '/.composer';
             }
         }
 
         $config = new Config();
 
-        $file = new JsonFile($home.'config.json');
+        $file = new JsonFile($home.'/config.json');
         if ($file->exists()) {
             $config->merge($file->read());
         }
 
+        // add home dir to the config
+        $config->merge(array('config' => array('home' => $home)));
+
         return $config;
     }
 
@@ -91,7 +94,7 @@ class Factory
         ProcessExecutor::setTimeout((int) $config->get('process-timeout'));
 
         // initialize repository manager
-        $rm = $this->createRepositoryManager($io);
+        $rm = $this->createRepositoryManager($io, $config);
 
         // load default repository unless it's explicitly disabled
         $localConfig = $this->addPackagistRepository($localConfig);
@@ -130,9 +133,9 @@ class Factory
         return $composer;
     }
 
-    protected function createRepositoryManager(IOInterface $io)
+    protected function createRepositoryManager(IOInterface $io, Config $config)
     {
-        $rm = new RepositoryManager($io);
+        $rm = new RepositoryManager($io, $config);
         $rm->setRepositoryClass('composer', 'Composer\Repository\ComposerRepository');
         $rm->setRepositoryClass('vcs', 'Composer\Repository\VcsRepository');
         $rm->setRepositoryClass('package', 'Composer\Repository\PackageRepository');
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
index 450dfdf33..9778f294b 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/ComposerRepository.php
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use Composer\Package\Loader\ArrayLoader;
 use Composer\Package\LinkConstraint\VersionConstraint;
 use Composer\Json\JsonFile;
 use Composer\Cache;
+use Composer\Config;
 use Composer\IO\IOInterface;
 use Composer\Util\RemoteFilesystem;
 
@@ -29,20 +30,20 @@ class ComposerRepository extends ArrayRepository
     protected $packages;
     protected $cache;
 
-    public function __construct(array $config, IOInterface $io)
+    public function __construct(array $repoConfig, IOInterface $io, Config $config)
     {
-        if (!preg_match('{^\w+://}', $config['url'])) {
+        if (!preg_match('{^\w+://}', $repoConfig['url'])) {
             // assume http as the default protocol
-            $config['url'] = 'http://'.$config['url'];
+            $repoConfig['url'] = 'http://'.$repoConfig['url'];
         }
-        $config['url'] = rtrim($config['url'], '/');
-        if (function_exists('filter_var') && !filter_var($config['url'], FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
-            throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Invalid url given for Composer repository: '.$config['url']);
+        $repoConfig['url'] = rtrim($repoConfig['url'], '/');
+        if (function_exists('filter_var') && !filter_var($repoConfig['url'], FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
+            throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Invalid url given for Composer repository: '.$repoConfig['url']);
         }
 
-        $this->url = $config['url'];
+        $this->url = $repoConfig['url'];
         $this->io = $io;
-        $this->cache = new Cache($io, preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}', '-', $this->url));
+        $this->cache = new Cache($io, $config->get('home').'/cache/'.preg_replace('{[^a-z0-9.]}', '-', $this->url));
     }
 
     protected function initialize()
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/PearRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/PearRepository.php
index a73d2c8b4..9c4bf7ba7 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/PearRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/PearRepository.php
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use Composer\IO\IOInterface;
 use Composer\Package\Loader\ArrayLoader;
 use Composer\Util\RemoteFilesystem;
 use Composer\Json\JsonFile;
+use Composer\Config;
 use Composer\Downloader\TransportException;
 
 /**
@@ -31,18 +32,18 @@ class PearRepository extends ArrayRepository
     private $io;
     private $rfs;
 
-    public function __construct(array $config, IOInterface $io, RemoteFilesystem $rfs = null)
+    public function __construct(array $repoConfig, IOInterface $io, Config $config, RemoteFilesystem $rfs = null)
     {
-        if (!preg_match('{^https?://}', $config['url'])) {
-            $config['url'] = 'http://'.$config['url'];
+        if (!preg_match('{^https?://}', $repoConfig['url'])) {
+            $repoConfig['url'] = 'http://'.$repoConfig['url'];
         }
 
-        if (function_exists('filter_var') && !filter_var($config['url'], FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
-            throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Invalid url given for PEAR repository: '.$config['url']);
+        if (function_exists('filter_var') && !filter_var($repoConfig['url'], FILTER_VALIDATE_URL)) {
+            throw new \UnexpectedValueException('Invalid url given for PEAR repository: '.$repoConfig['url']);
         }
 
-        $this->url = rtrim($config['url'], '/');
-        $this->channel = !empty($config['channel']) ? $config['channel'] : null;
+        $this->url = rtrim($repoConfig['url'], '/');
+        $this->channel = !empty($repoConfig['channel']) ? $repoConfig['channel'] : null;
         $this->io = $io;
         $this->rfs = $rfs ?: new RemoteFilesystem($this->io);
     }
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/RepositoryManager.php b/src/Composer/Repository/RepositoryManager.php
index 4935ef68c..8dd684082 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/RepositoryManager.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/RepositoryManager.php
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 namespace Composer\Repository;
 
 use Composer\IO\IOInterface;
+use Composer\Config;
 
 /**
  * Repositories manager.
@@ -27,10 +28,12 @@ class RepositoryManager
     private $repositories = array();
     private $repositoryClasses = array();
     private $io;
+    private $config;
 
-    public function __construct(IOInterface $io)
+    public function __construct(IOInterface $io, Config $config)
     {
         $this->io = $io;
+        $this->config = $config;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -94,7 +97,7 @@ class RepositoryManager
         }
 
         $class = $this->repositoryClasses[$type];
-        return new $class($config, $this->io);
+        return new $class($config, $this->io, $this->config);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/Composer/Repository/VcsRepository.php b/src/Composer/Repository/VcsRepository.php
index 80a1390e5..00499b5bb 100644
--- a/src/Composer/Repository/VcsRepository.php
+++ b/src/Composer/Repository/VcsRepository.php
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ use Composer\Package\PackageInterface;
 use Composer\Package\AliasPackage;
 use Composer\Package\Loader\ArrayLoader;
 use Composer\IO\IOInterface;
+use Composer\Config;
 
 /**
  * @author Jordi Boggiano <j.boggiano@seld.be>
@@ -32,7 +33,7 @@ class VcsRepository extends ArrayRepository
     protected $versionParser;
     protected $type;
 
-    public function __construct(array $config, IOInterface $io, array $drivers = null)
+    public function __construct(array $repoConfig, IOInterface $io, Config $config = null, array $drivers = null)
     {
         $this->drivers = $drivers ?: array(
             'github'        => 'Composer\Repository\Vcs\GitHubDriver',
@@ -43,9 +44,9 @@ class VcsRepository extends ArrayRepository
             'hg'            => 'Composer\Repository\Vcs\HgDriver',
         );
 
-        $this->url = $config['url'];
+        $this->url = $repoConfig['url'];
         $this->io = $io;
-        $this->type = isset($config['type']) ? $config['type'] : 'vcs';
+        $this->type = isset($repoConfig['type']) ? $repoConfig['type'] : 'vcs';
         $this->verbose = $io->isVerbose();
     }