diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/FileSource.java b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/FileSource.java
index 0146b76b53..0e7604f6a5 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/FileSource.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/FileSource.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean;
+import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
+import org.springframework.integration.ConfigurationException;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.MessageCreator;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.MessageDeliveryAware;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.MessagingException;
@@ -46,14 +48,23 @@ public class FileSource extends AbstractDirectorySource implements Source<Object
 	private volatile FilenameFilter filenameFilter;
 
 
-	public FileSource(File directory) {
+	public FileSource(Resource directory) {
 		this(directory, new FileMessageCreator());
 	}
 
-	public FileSource(File directory, MessageCreator<File, ?> messageCreator) {
+	public FileSource(Resource directory, MessageCreator<File, ?> messageCreator) {
 		super(messageCreator);
 		Assert.notNull(directory, "The directory must not be null");
-		this.directory = directory;
+		try {
+			this.directory = directory.getFile();
+			if (!this.directory.isDirectory()) {
+				throw new ConfigurationException("The FileSource can't be instantiated because "
+						+ this.directory.getAbsolutePath() + " is not a directory.");
+			}
+		}
+		catch (IOException e) {
+			throw new ConfigurationException("The FileSource can't be instantiated", e);
+		}
 	}
 
 
@@ -87,7 +98,7 @@ public class FileSource extends AbstractDirectorySource implements Source<Object
 
 	@Override
 	protected void populateSnapshot(Map<String, FileInfo> snapshot) throws IOException {
-		File[] files = null;
+		File[] files;
 		if (this.fileFilter != null) {
 			files = this.directory.listFiles(this.fileFilter);
 		}
@@ -100,10 +111,10 @@ public class FileSource extends AbstractDirectorySource implements Source<Object
 		if (files == null) {
 			throw new MessagingException("Problem occurred while polling for files. " +
 					"Is '" + directory.getAbsolutePath() + "' a directory?");
-		}		
-		for (int i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
-			FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(files[i].getName(), files[i].lastModified(), files[i].length());
-			snapshot.put(files[i].getName(), fileInfo);
+		}
+		for (File file : files) {
+			FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(file.getName(), file.lastModified(), file.length());
+			snapshot.put(file.getName(), fileInfo);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/FileSourceParser.java b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/FileSourceParser.java
index d7876c61e5..1d5d77496a 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/FileSourceParser.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/FileSourceParser.java
@@ -16,12 +16,15 @@
 
 package org.springframework.integration.adapter.file.config;
 
-import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+import java.net.MalformedURLException;
+import java.net.URL;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionBuilder;
+import org.springframework.core.io.ResourceLoader;
 import org.springframework.integration.ConfigurationException;
 import org.springframework.integration.adapter.file.FileSource;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
 
 /**
  * Parser for the &lt;file-source/&gt; element.
@@ -58,7 +61,12 @@ public class FileSourceParser extends AbstractDirectorySourceParser {
 
 	@Override
 	protected void postProcess(BeanDefinitionBuilder beanDefinition, Element element) {
-		beanDefinition.addConstructorArgValue(element.getAttribute(DIRECTORY_ATTRIBUTE));
+		String directoryLocation = element.getAttribute(DIRECTORY_ATTRIBUTE);
+		if (!directoryLocation.startsWith(ResourceLoader.CLASSPATH_URL_PREFIX)
+				&& !isUrl(directoryLocation)) {
+			directoryLocation = "file:" + directoryLocation;
+		}
+		beanDefinition.addConstructorArgValue(directoryLocation);
 		String fileFilter = element.getAttribute(FILE_FILTER_ATTRIBUTE);
 		String filenameFilter = element.getAttribute(FILENAME_FILTER_ATTRIBUTE);
 		if (StringUtils.hasText(fileFilter) && StringUtils.hasText(filenameFilter)) {
@@ -74,4 +82,14 @@ public class FileSourceParser extends AbstractDirectorySourceParser {
 		super.postProcess(beanDefinition, element);
 	}
 
+	private boolean isUrl(String directoryLocation) {
+		try {
+			new URL(directoryLocation);
+			return true;
+		}
+		catch (MalformedURLException e) {
+			return false;
+		}
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/FileSourceParserTests.java b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/FileSourceParserTests.java
index ade7022f2f..df44eae054 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/FileSourceParserTests.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/FileSourceParserTests.java
@@ -16,17 +16,18 @@
 
 package org.springframework.integration.adapter.file.config;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
-import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
-
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileFilter;
 import java.io.FilenameFilter;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.DirectFieldAccessor;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException;
 import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
 import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
@@ -135,4 +136,14 @@ public class FileSourceParserTests {
 		}
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testFileSourceWithFileAndNotDirectory() {
+		try {
+			new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("fileSourceWithFileDirectory.xml", this.getClass());
+		    fail();
+		} catch (BeanCreationException ex) {
+			assertTrue(ex.getCause().getCause().getMessage().indexOf("is not a directory") > 0);
+		}
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/fileSourceParserTests.xml b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/fileSourceParserTests.xml
index 8086603fc2..2191daf6f4 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/fileSourceParserTests.xml
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/fileSourceParserTests.xml
@@ -30,6 +30,4 @@
 
 	<bean id="customFilenameFilter" class="org.springframework.integration.adapter.file.config.CustomFilenameFilter"/>
 
-	<context:property-placeholder/>
-
 </beans>
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/fileSourceWithFileDirectory.xml b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/fileSourceWithFileDirectory.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1319e65f7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.adapter/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/adapter/file/config/fileSourceWithFileDirectory.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:si="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/context
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-2.5.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-1.0.xsd">
+
+	<si:file-source id="fileSourceDefault" directory="fileSourceWithFileDirectory.xml"/>
+
+</beans>