diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/beanWrapperMapperSampleJob.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/beanWrapperMapperSampleJob.xml
index 54cd8e099..a7ef5c296 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/beanWrapperMapperSampleJob.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/beanWrapperMapperSampleJob.xml
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.0.xsd
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-2.0.xsd">
 
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
-	 
 	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
 		<property name="jobConfigurationRegistry" ref="jobConfigurationRegistry"/>
 	</bean>
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/compositeProcessorSample.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/compositeProcessorSample.xml
index 4fee75603..447f9fff2 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/compositeProcessorSample.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/compositeProcessorSample.xml
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.0.xsd
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-2.0.xsd">
 
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
- 
 	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
 		<property name="jobConfigurationRegistry" ref="jobConfigurationRegistry"/>
 	</bean>
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/fixedLengthImportJob.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/fixedLengthImportJob.xml
index 41ad3dd95..008390d72 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/fixedLengthImportJob.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/fixedLengthImportJob.xml
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.0.xsd
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-2.0.xsd">
 
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
- 
 	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
 		<property name="jobConfigurationRegistry" ref="jobConfigurationRegistry"/>
 	</bean>
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/infiniteLoopJob.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/infiniteLoopJob.xml
index 6398d99fc..89a5a7adb 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/infiniteLoopJob.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/infiniteLoopJob.xml
@@ -9,8 +9,6 @@
 	<!-- The module used in this job will run in an infinite loop.  This is useful for testing graceful shutdown from
 		multiple environments. -->
 
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
-
 	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
 		<property name="jobConfigurationRegistry" ref="jobConfigurationRegistry"/>
 	</bean>
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/multilineJob.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/multilineJob.xml
index 258300372..f7d42ccd8 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/multilineJob.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/multilineJob.xml
@@ -6,8 +6,6 @@
        	http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop
  		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.0.xsd">
 
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
-	
 	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
 		<property name="jobConfigurationRegistry" ref="jobConfigurationRegistry"/>
 	</bean>
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/multilineOrderJob.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/multilineOrderJob.xml
index 5c892431f..b034bcd29 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/multilineOrderJob.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/multilineOrderJob.xml
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 	<import resource="multilineOrderInputDescriptors.xml" />
 	<import resource="multilineOrderOutputDescriptors.xml" />
 	<import resource="multilineOrderIo.xml" />
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
 
 	<bean
 		class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/restartSample.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/restartSample.xml
index 21f03a383..9fb23dc62 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/restartSample.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/restartSample.xml
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.0.xsd
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-2.0.xsd">
 
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
-
 	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
 		<property name="jobConfigurationRegistry" ref="jobConfigurationRegistry"/>
 	</bean>
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/simpleTaskletJob.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/simpleTaskletJob.xml
index cc0d0deb1..5ce5822f5 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/simpleTaskletJob.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/simpleTaskletJob.xml
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@
        	http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop
  		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.0.xsd">
 
-
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
-
 	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
 		<property name="jobConfigurationRegistry" ref="jobConfigurationRegistry"/>
 	</bean>
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/tradeJob.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/tradeJob.xml
index 2419b12a0..e8645d7f3 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/tradeJob.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/tradeJob.xml
@@ -6,8 +6,6 @@
        		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop
  			http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.0.xsd">
 
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
-
 	<import resource="tradeJobIo.xml" />
 	<!--import resource="tradeJobAop.xml" /-->
 
diff --git a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/xmlJob.xml b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/xmlJob.xml
index e27afcd3d..601383a69 100644
--- a/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/xmlJob.xml
+++ b/samples/src/main/resources/jobs/xmlJob.xml
@@ -6,8 +6,6 @@
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.0.xsd
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-2.0.xsd
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-2.0.xsd">
-
-	<import resource="../simple-container-definition.xml" />
 	
 	<bean class="org.springframework.batch.execution.configuration.JobConfigurationRegistryBeanPostProcessor">
 		<property name="jobConfigurationRegistry" ref="jobConfigurationRegistry"/>
diff --git a/samples/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/sample/AbstractBatchLauncherTests.java b/samples/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/sample/AbstractBatchLauncherTests.java
index b7eec8a32..448dc249c 100644
--- a/samples/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/sample/AbstractBatchLauncherTests.java
+++ b/samples/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/sample/AbstractBatchLauncherTests.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package org.springframework.batch.sample;
 
 import org.springframework.batch.core.configuration.JobConfiguration;
 import org.springframework.batch.execution.bootstrap.SynchronousJobLauncher;
+import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.test.AbstractDependencyInjectionSpringContextTests;
 
 /**
@@ -27,6 +28,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractBatchLauncherTests extends AbstractDependencyInjec
 
 	protected SynchronousJobLauncher launcher;
 	private JobConfiguration jobConfiguration;
+	
+	protected ConfigurableApplicationContext createApplicationContext(
+			String[] locations) {
+		String[] allLocations = new String[locations.length+1];
+		System.arraycopy(locations, 0, allLocations, 0, locations.length);
+		allLocations[locations.length] = "simple-container-definition.xml";
+		return super.createApplicationContext(allLocations);
+	}
 
 	/**
 	 * Subclasses can provide name of job to run. We guess it by looking at the