diff --git a/sdk/mx.sdk/suite.py b/sdk/mx.sdk/suite.py
index c52c82e31ef4..7cc0a5cddff7 100644
--- a/sdk/mx.sdk/suite.py
+++ b/sdk/mx.sdk/suite.py
@@ -906,6 +906,15 @@ class UniversalDetector {
       },
     },
 
+    "MAVEN_DOWNLOADER_VERSION": {
+      "type": "dir",
+      "platformDependent": False,
+      "layout": {
+        "META-INF/graalvm/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/version": "dependency:sdk:VERSION/version",
+      },
+      "description": "Maven downloader version.",
+      "maven": False,
+    },
     "MAVEN_DOWNLOADER": {
       "moduleInfo" : {
         "name" : "org.graalvm.maven.downloader",
@@ -916,6 +925,7 @@ class UniversalDetector {
       "mainClass": "org.graalvm.maven.downloader.Main",
       "dependencies": [
         "org.graalvm.maven.downloader",
+        "MAVEN_DOWNLOADER_VERSION",
       ],
       "distDependencies": [
         "sdk:NATIVEIMAGE",
diff --git a/sdk/src/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/src/org/graalvm/maven/downloader/Main.java b/sdk/src/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/src/org/graalvm/maven/downloader/Main.java
index 21a287c4162d..8c31219d0e75 100644
--- a/sdk/src/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/src/org/graalvm/maven/downloader/Main.java
+++ b/sdk/src/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/src/org/graalvm/maven/downloader/Main.java
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ static Arguments parseArguments(String... args) {
         String version = null;
 
         for (int i = 0; i < args.length; i++) {
-            if ('-' == args[i].charAt(0)) {
+            if (args[i].startsWith("-")) {
                 if (args[i].length() < 2) {
                     exitErr("Invalid argument: " + args[i]);
                 }
diff --git a/sdk/src/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/src/org/graalvm/maven/downloader/OptionProperties.java b/sdk/src/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/src/org/graalvm/maven/downloader/OptionProperties.java
index 99fbe3b73c9d..426b68886886 100644
--- a/sdk/src/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/src/org/graalvm/maven/downloader/OptionProperties.java
+++ b/sdk/src/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/src/org/graalvm/maven/downloader/OptionProperties.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2023, 2024, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
  * DO NOT ALTER OR REMOVE COPYRIGHT NOTICES OR THIS FILE HEADER.
  *
  * The Universal Permissive License (UPL), Version 1.0
@@ -40,13 +40,21 @@
  */
 package org.graalvm.maven.downloader;
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
 
 import org.graalvm.nativeimage.ImageInfo;
 import org.graalvm.nativeimage.ProcessProperties;
 
 class OptionProperties {
-    static final String RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR = System.getProperty("org.graalvm.maven.downloader.relative_output_dir");
+    static final String DEFAULT_RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR = "modules";
+    static final String RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR = System.getProperty("org.graalvm.maven.downloader.relative_output_dir", DEFAULT_RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR);
     static final String DEFAULT_VERSION = System.getProperty("org.graalvm.maven.downloader.default_version");
     static final String VERSION_PROP = "org.graalvm.maven.downloader.version";
     static final String DEFAULT_MAVEN_REPO = "https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/";
@@ -72,6 +80,16 @@ public static String getDefaultVersion() {
             if (DEFAULT_VERSION != null) {
                 return DEFAULT_VERSION;
             } else {
+                InputStream in = OptionProperties.class.getResourceAsStream("/META-INF/graalvm/org.graalvm.maven.downloader/version");
+                if (in != null) {
+                    try (BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in, StandardCharsets.UTF_8))) {
+                        String version = r.readLine();
+                        if (version != null) {
+                            return version;
+                        }
+                    } catch (IOException ioe) {
+                    }
+                }
                 return "not specified";
             }
         } else {
@@ -89,12 +107,27 @@ public static String getExeName() {
     }
 
     public static String getDefaultOutputDir() {
-        if (RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR != null) {
-            if (ImageInfo.inImageRuntimeCode()) {
-                String progName = ProcessProperties.getExecutableName();
-                return Paths.get(progName).resolve("..").resolve(RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR).normalize().toString();
+        if (ImageInfo.inImageRuntimeCode()) {
+            String progName = ProcessProperties.getExecutableName();
+            if (progName != null) {
+                // $STANDALONE_HOME/bin/<exe>/../../modules = $STANDALONE_HOME/modules
+                Path standaloneHome = Paths.get(progName).resolve("..").resolve("..");
+                return standaloneHome.resolve(RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR).normalize().toString();
+            }
+        } else {
+            String javaHomeProperty = System.getProperty("java.home");
+            if (javaHomeProperty != null) {
+                Path javaHome = Paths.get(javaHomeProperty);
+                if (Files.isDirectory(javaHome) && Files.exists(javaHome.resolve("lib").resolve("modules"))) {
+                    // Resolve standalone home relative to java.home.
+                    Path standaloneHome = javaHome.resolve("..");
+                    Path modules = standaloneHome.resolve(RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR).normalize();
+                    if (Files.isDirectory(modules)) {
+                        return modules.toString();
+                    }
+                }
             }
         }
-        return "maven downloader output";
+        return DEFAULT_RELATIVE_OUTPUT_DIR;
     }
 }
diff --git a/vm/mx.vm/suite.py b/vm/mx.vm/suite.py
index 2d01e01b18c8..d3b5fe677f31 100644
--- a/vm/mx.vm/suite.py
+++ b/vm/mx.vm/suite.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
                 "name": "graal-nodejs",
                 "subdir": True,
                 "dynamic": True,
-                "version": "2353190673d09a0481b97e1d9901b14943a5bead",
+                "version": "a63c018c399790b8dcd04991527012e941a67244",
                 "urls" : [
                     {"url" : "https://github.com/graalvm/graaljs.git", "kind" : "git"},
                 ]
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
                 "name": "graal-js",
                 "subdir": True,
                 "dynamic": True,
-                "version": "2353190673d09a0481b97e1d9901b14943a5bead",
+                "version": "a63c018c399790b8dcd04991527012e941a67244",
                 "urls": [
                     {"url": "https://github.com/graalvm/graaljs.git", "kind" : "git"},
                 ]