diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a89d0fc231..252fc56bb1 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
     "find-up": "2.1.0",
     "fs-write-stream-atomic": "1.0.10",
     "get-link-target": "1.0.0",
+    "get-npm-tarball-url": "1.0.0",
     "global-bin-path": "0.1.1",
     "graceful-fs": "4.1.11",
     "is-ci": "1.0.10",
diff --git a/src/install/fetch.ts b/src/install/fetch.ts
index 4b868b6c3a..dfc273aadf 100644
--- a/src/install/fetch.ts
+++ b/src/install/fetch.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import resolve, {
   PackageMeta,
 } from '../resolve'
 import mkdirp = require('mkdirp-promise')
+import getNpmTarballUrl from 'get-npm-tarball-url'
+import registryUrl = require('registry-url')
 import readPkg from '../fs/readPkg'
 import exists = require('path-exists')
 import memoize, {MemoizedFunc} from '../memoize'
@@ -69,6 +71,9 @@ export default async function fetch (
       if (resolveResult.package) {
         fetchingPkg = Promise.resolve(resolveResult.package)
       }
+    } else if (resolution.type === undefined && resolution.tarball === undefined) {
+      const parts = pkgId!.split('/')
+      resolution.tarball = getNpmTarballUrl(parts[1], parts[2], {registry: registryUrl()})
     }
 
     const id = <string>pkgId
diff --git a/src/install/installMultiple.ts b/src/install/installMultiple.ts
index 58f8559120..2b6bcd59c6 100644
--- a/src/install/installMultiple.ts
+++ b/src/install/installMultiple.ts
@@ -211,7 +211,10 @@ async function install (
 
   const shortId = pkgShortId(fetchedPkg.id, ctx.shrinkwrap.registry)
   ctx.shrinkwrap.packages[shortId] = ctx.shrinkwrap.packages[shortId] || {}
-  ctx.shrinkwrap.packages[shortId].resolution = fetchedPkg.resolution
+  ctx.shrinkwrap.packages[shortId].resolution = Object.assign({}, fetchedPkg.resolution)
+  if (shortId.startsWith('/') && ctx.shrinkwrap.packages[shortId].resolution.type === undefined) {
+    delete ctx.shrinkwrap.packages[shortId].resolution['tarball']
+  }
 
   const pkg = await fetchedPkg.fetchingPkg
 
diff --git a/test/shrinkwrap.ts b/test/shrinkwrap.ts
index f3fd1779ae..598712c96b 100644
--- a/test/shrinkwrap.ts
+++ b/test/shrinkwrap.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ test('shrinkwrap file has correct format', async t => {
   t.ok(shr.packages[id].dependencies, `has dependency resolutions for ${id}`)
   t.ok(shr.packages[id].dependencies['dep-of-pkg-with-1-dep'], `has dependency resolved for ${id}`)
   t.ok(shr.packages[id].resolution, `has resolution for ${id}`)
-  t.equal(shr.packages[id].resolution.tarball, 'http://localhost:4873/pkg-with-1-dep/-/pkg-with-1-dep-100.0.0.tgz', `has tarball for ${id}`)
+  t.ok(!shr.packages[id].resolution.tarball, `has no tarball for package in the default registry`)
 })
 
 test('fail when shasum from shrinkwrap does not match with the actual one', async t => {