diff --git a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplication.java b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplication.java
index 2645315ab3..83a43959b3 100644
--- a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplication.java
+++ b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/SpringApplication.java
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ public class SpringApplication {
 	}
 
 	private void callNonEnvironmentAwareSpringApplicationInitializers(String[] args) {
-		for (ApplicationContextInitializer<?> initializer : this.initializers) {
+		for (ApplicationContextInitializer<?> initializer : getInitializers()) {
 			if (initializer instanceof SpringApplicationInitializer
 					&& !(initializer instanceof EnvironmentAware)) {
 				((SpringApplicationInitializer) initializer).initialize(this, args);
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ public class SpringApplication {
 
 	private void callEnvironmentAwareSpringApplicationInitializers(String[] args,
 			ConfigurableEnvironment environment) {
-		for (ApplicationContextInitializer<?> initializer : this.initializers) {
+		for (ApplicationContextInitializer<?> initializer : getInitializers()) {
 			if (initializer instanceof SpringApplicationInitializer
 					&& initializer instanceof EnvironmentAware) {
 				((EnvironmentAware) initializer).setEnvironment(environment);
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ public class SpringApplication {
 	 */
 	@SuppressWarnings({ "rawtypes", "unchecked" })
 	protected void applyInitializers(ConfigurableApplicationContext context) {
-		for (ApplicationContextInitializer initializer : this.initializers) {
+		for (ApplicationContextInitializer initializer : getInitializers()) {
 			Class<?> requiredType = GenericTypeResolver.resolveTypeArgument(
 					initializer.getClass(), ApplicationContextInitializer.class);
 			Assert.isInstanceOf(requiredType, context, "Unable to call initializer.");
@@ -634,7 +634,9 @@ public class SpringApplication {
 
 	/**
 	 * Sets the {@link ApplicationContextInitializer} that will be applied to the Spring
-	 * {@link ApplicationContext}. Any existing initializers will be replaced.
+	 * {@link ApplicationContext}. Any existing initializers will be replaced. The default
+	 * initializers (from <code>META-INF/spring.factories</code> are always appended at
+	 * runtime).
 	 * @param initializers the initializers to set
 	 */
 	public void setInitializers(
@@ -648,7 +650,10 @@ public class SpringApplication {
 	 * @return the initializers
 	 */
 	public List<ApplicationContextInitializer<?>> getInitializers() {
-		return this.initializers;
+		List<ApplicationContextInitializer<?>> initializers = new ArrayList<ApplicationContextInitializer<?>>(
+				this.initializers);
+		initializers.addAll(getSpringFactoriesApplicationContextInitializers());
+		return initializers;
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/builder/SpringApplicationBuilder.java b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/builder/SpringApplicationBuilder.java
index 8b96d5c0b3..dd6d28c25e 100644
--- a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/builder/SpringApplicationBuilder.java
+++ b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/builder/SpringApplicationBuilder.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanNameGenerator;
 import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
 import org.springframework.boot.context.initializer.ParentContextApplicationContextInitializer;
+import org.springframework.boot.context.initializer.ServletContextApplicationContextInitializer;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContextInitializer;
 import org.springframework.context.ConfigurableApplicationContext;
@@ -395,7 +396,14 @@ public class SpringApplicationBuilder {
 	 */
 	public SpringApplicationBuilder initializers(
 			ApplicationContextInitializer<?>... initializers) {
-		addInitializers(false, initializers);
+		for (ApplicationContextInitializer<?> initializer : initializers) {
+			boolean prepend = false;
+			if (initializer instanceof ParentContextApplicationContextInitializer
+					|| initializer instanceof ServletContextApplicationContextInitializer) {
+				prepend = true;
+			}
+			addInitializers(prepend, initializer);
+		}
 		return this;
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java
index 15c863886a..1602648500 100644
--- a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java
+++ b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/context/embedded/EmbeddedWebApplicationContext.java
@@ -147,11 +147,20 @@ public class EmbeddedWebApplicationContext extends GenericWebApplicationContext
 	}
 
 	private synchronized void createEmbeddedServletContainer() {
-		if (this.embeddedServletContainer == null) {
+		if (this.embeddedServletContainer == null && getServletContext() == null) {
 			EmbeddedServletContainerFactory containerFactory = getEmbeddedServletContainerFactory();
 			this.embeddedServletContainer = containerFactory
 					.getEmbeddedServletContainer(getSelfInitializer());
 		}
+		else if (getServletContext() != null) {
+			try {
+				getSelfInitializer().onStartup(getServletContext());
+			}
+			catch (ServletException ex) {
+				throw new ApplicationContextException(
+						"Cannot initialize servlet context", ex);
+			}
+		}
 		WebApplicationContextUtils.registerWebApplicationScopes(getBeanFactory(),
 				getServletContext());
 		WebApplicationContextUtils.registerEnvironmentBeans(getBeanFactory(),
diff --git a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/web/SpringBootServletInitializer.java b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/web/SpringBootServletInitializer.java
index 13e62f42e2..c91f7c3103 100644
--- a/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/web/SpringBootServletInitializer.java
+++ b/spring-boot/src/main/java/org/springframework/boot/web/SpringBootServletInitializer.java
@@ -81,9 +81,12 @@ public abstract class SpringBootServletInitializer implements WebApplicationInit
 		}
 		SpringApplicationBuilder application = new SpringApplicationBuilder()
 				.sources(getConfigClasses());
-		application.initializers(
-				new ParentContextApplicationContextInitializer(parent),
-				new ServletContextApplicationContextInitializer(servletContext));
+		if (parent != null) {
+			application.initializers(new ParentContextApplicationContextInitializer(
+					parent));
+		}
+		application.initializers(new ServletContextApplicationContextInitializer(
+				servletContext));
 		application.contextClass(AnnotationConfigEmbeddedWebApplicationContext.class);
 		return (WebApplicationContext) application.run();
 	}