diff --git a/lib/puppet/provider/firewalld.rb b/lib/puppet/provider/firewalld.rb
index 1d3f8b35..94d72840 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/provider/firewalld.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/provider/firewalld.rb
@@ -8,10 +8,26 @@ class Puppet::Provider::Firewalld < Puppet::Provider
 
   def initialize(*args)
     if running.nil?
+      check_running_state
+    end
+    super
+  end
+
+  def check_running_state
+    begin
       ret = self.class.execute_firewall_cmd(['--state'], nil, false, false)
       @running = ret.exitstatus == 0 ? true : false
+    rescue Puppet::MissingCommand => e
+      # This exception is caught in case the module is being run before
+      # the package provider has installed the firewalld package, if we
+      # cannot find the firewalld-cmd command then we silently continue
+      # leaving @running set to nil, this will cause it to be re-checked
+      # later in the execution process.
+      #
+      # See: https://github.com/crayfishx/puppet-firewalld/issues/96
+      #
+      self.debug('Could not determine state of firewalld because the executable is not available')
     end
-    super
   end
 
   # v3.0.0
@@ -68,10 +84,12 @@ def reload_firewall
   end
 
   def offline?
-    @running == false
+    check_running_state if running.nil?
+    @running == false || @running.nil?
   end
 
   def online?
+    check_running_state if running.nil?
     @running == true
   end
 
diff --git a/lib/puppet/provider/firewalld_zone/firewall_cmd.rb b/lib/puppet/provider/firewalld_zone/firewall_cmd.rb
index f471f16c..bd275fb3 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/provider/firewalld_zone/firewall_cmd.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/provider/firewalld_zone/firewall_cmd.rb
@@ -12,6 +12,15 @@
 
   def exists?
     @resource[:zone] = @resource[:name]
+
+    # If running is still set to nil then firewalld might not be installed yet,
+    # and we are probably calling this method from the generate method of the
+    # firewalld_zone type.  We should just politely return false here as the
+    # module should install the package later in the puppet run, related to
+    # issue #96
+    #
+    return false if running.nil?
+
     execute_firewall_cmd(['--get-zones'], nil).split(" ").include?(@resource[:name])
   end