Ok i exploded the war file as a directory in the deploy directory and still i get the same problem. Makes no difference, the classloader loads the classes from the libraries inside the work directory so when class.getResource() gets called it returns a URL as to where the class file is located and from here it works its way up the URL dir structure to find the properties file but it aint there because the URL points to the work directory and in this directory the properties file aint there!! Is this a bug or known limitation?? View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4112903#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...