diff --git a/src/main/webapp/arsnova.properties.example b/src/main/resources/arsnova.properties.example
similarity index 100%
rename from src/main/webapp/arsnova.properties.example
rename to src/main/resources/arsnova.properties.example
diff --git a/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring/arsnova-servlet.xml b/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring/arsnova-servlet.xml
index 00855bf450ab80ded1182d39d7ec28ba5f4d9b97..1cbf88607648cfde7fc6bf636eeb664721887103 100644
--- a/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring/arsnova-servlet.xml
+++ b/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring/arsnova-servlet.xml
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
 	<!-- ARSnova Servlet Context -->
 
 	<context:component-scan base-package="de.thm.arsnova.controller,de.thm.arsnova.web" />
-	<context:property-placeholder location="file:///etc/arsnova/arsnova.properties" file-encoding="UTF-8" />
+	<context:property-placeholder location="classpath:arsnova.properties.example" file-encoding="UTF-8" order="2" ignore-resource-not-found="true" />
+	<context:property-placeholder location="file:///etc/arsnova/arsnova.properties" file-encoding="UTF-8" order="1" ignore-resource-not-found="true" />
 	<mvc:annotation-driven
 		content-negotiation-manager="mvcContentNegotiationManager" />
 
diff --git a/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring/spring-main.xml b/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring/spring-main.xml
index c94ed0de36aafc55edaee52ebc5d97e7b5ab0137..d37792995eb011f6ec06061fcf32ac78b91fe37f 100644
--- a/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring/spring-main.xml
+++ b/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/spring/spring-main.xml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 		p:ignoreUnresolvablePlaceholders="false" p:ignoreResourceNotFound="true">
 		<property name="locations">
 			<list>
-				<value>arsnova.properties.example</value>
+				<value>classpath:arsnova.properties.example</value>
 				<value>file:///etc/arsnova/arsnova.properties</value>
 			</list>
 		</property>