Wait a minute, I think I understand now. What you posted is the code that gets the base directory, and the code that opens the properties file appends "conf/config.properties" top the base to get the file location. I added your code to my servlet, and here is the output (when all of my classes are in the WEB-INF/classes directory: 11:12:42,640 INFO [STDOUT] ProjectRootClass: Probe URL is vfsfile:/opt/jboss/jboss-5.0.0.Beta2/server/webapp/deploy/inear.ear/webapp.war/WEB-INF/classes/peter/ProjectRootClass.class 11:12:42,641 INFO [STDOUT] ProjectRootClass: The project root was detected at /opt/jboss/jboss-5.0.0.Beta2/server/webapp/deploy/inear.ear/webapp.war And then I packaged my classes in a jar file and placed it into WEB-INF/lib: 11:17:26,260 INFO [STDOUT] ProjectRootClass: Probe URL is jar:vfsfile:/opt/jboss/jboss-5.0.0.Beta2/server/webapp/deploy/inear.ear/webapp.war/WEB-INF/lib/stuff.jar!/peter/ProjectRootClass.class 11:17:26,260 INFO [STDOUT] ProjectRootClass: The project root was detected at /opt/jboss/jboss-5.0.0.Beta2/server/webapp/deploy/inear.ear/webapp.war In both cases the base location is webapp.war directory (both the ear and war are exploded). So it appears that if the ear and war are exploded that it should work (that is, the code should not be looking in the tmp or work files for the base. So some more questions - where did the code you posted come from? I hope it did not come from a JSP! If it did, you might have to precompile the JSP and package it in the jar file, or put it in the classes directory. If the code is not from a JSP, then I need to see the output from the code, and the code that opens the properties file. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4113924#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...