diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cac3d00..00b433c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 All notable changes to the Zlux App Server package will be documented in this file.
 
+## v3.1.0
+- Bugfix: app-server no longer causes Zowe to print "FSUM7422 node is not found" and "Node found in NODE_HOME" upon startup. This avoids confusion about if node requirements are met. (#325)
+
 ## v3.0.0
 - Enhancement: Added new plugin identifier for the V3 Ivy Desktop to list of default plugins. Also added this plugin to list of allowedPlugins.json.
 - Enhancement: Updated schema to document new entry points in V3.
diff --git a/bin/start.sh b/bin/start.sh
index 6c24f83..80b2bde 100755
--- a/bin/start.sh
+++ b/bin/start.sh
@@ -27,9 +27,8 @@ if [ -n "${ZWE_zowe_runtimeDirectory}" ]; then
   # used for relativeTo plugins
   export ZLUX_ROOT_DIR=$COMPONENT_HOME/share
 else
- # dev env
- . ./validate.sh
- COMPONENT_HOME=$(cd ../..; pwd)
+  # dev env
+  COMPONENT_HOME=$(cd ../..; pwd)
 
   # used for relativeTo plugins
   export ZLUX_ROOT_DIR=$COMPONENT_HOME
diff --git a/bin/validate.sh b/bin/validate.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 32739e8..0000000
--- a/bin/validate.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# This program and the accompanying materials are
-# made available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v2.0 which accompanies
-# this distribution, and is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v20.html
-# 
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
-# 
-# Copyright Contributors to the Zowe Project.
-
-result=$(type node)
-if [ "$?" -ne "0" ]; then
-  if [ -e "${NODE_HOME}/bin/node" ]; then
-    echo "Node found in NODE_HOME"
-  elif [ -e "${ZOWE_NODE_HOME}/bin/node" ]; then
-    echo "Node found in NODE_HOME"
-  else 
-    echo "Error: node not found, app-server cannot run"
-    exit 1
-  fi
-fi
diff --git a/manifest.yaml b/manifest.yaml
index 30b7c30..b760926 100644
--- a/manifest.yaml
+++ b/manifest.yaml
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ commands:
   install: share/zlux-app-server/bin/internal-install.sh
   start: bin/start.sh
   configure: bin/configure.sh
-  validate: bin/validate.sh
 # we do not specify encoding here because its already tagged ascii
 apimlServices:
   dynamic: