diff --git a/spring-ldap/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplate.java b/spring-ldap/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplate.java
index e0b932ca..c56a7441 100644
--- a/spring-ldap/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplate.java
+++ b/spring-ldap/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/core/LdapTemplate.java
@@ -266,6 +266,7 @@ public class LdapTemplate implements LdapOperations, InitializingBean {
         DirContext ctx = contextSource.getReadOnlyContext();
 
         NamingEnumeration results = null;
+        RuntimeException ex = null;
         try {
             processor.preProcess(ctx);
             results = se.executeSearch(ctx);
@@ -274,22 +275,42 @@ public class LdapTemplate implements LdapOperations, InitializingBean {
                 NameClassPair result = (NameClassPair) results.next();
                 handler.handleNameClassPair(result);
             }
-            processor.postProcess(ctx);
         } catch (NameNotFoundException e) {
             // The base context was not found, which basically means
             // that the search did not return any results. Just clean up and
             // exit.
+            // Note that this may present problems if a DirContextProcessor was
+            // supplied - there's no guarantee that the postProcess() operation
+            // will go well after a NamingException has been thrown. It is
+            // however quite possible that information will be available for
+            // retrieval either way.
         } catch (PartialResultException e) {
             // Workaround for AD servers not handling referrals correctly.
             if (ignorePartialResultException) {
                 log.debug("PartialResultException encountered and ignored", e);
             } else {
-                throw getExceptionTranslator().translate(e);
+                ex = getExceptionTranslator().translate(e);
             }
         } catch (NamingException e) {
-            throw getExceptionTranslator().translate(e);
+            ex = getExceptionTranslator().translate(e);
         } finally {
+            try {
+                processor.postProcess(ctx);
+            } catch (NamingException e) {
+                if (ex == null) {
+                    ex = getExceptionTranslator().translate(e);
+                } else {
+                    // We already had an exception from above and should ignore
+                    // this one.
+                    log.debug("Ignoring Exception from postProcess, "
+                            + "main exception thrown instead", e);
+                }
+            }
             closeContextAndNamingEnumeration(ctx, results);
+            // If we got an exception it should be thrown.
+            if (ex != null) {
+                throw ex;
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -365,7 +386,8 @@ public class LdapTemplate implements LdapOperations, InitializingBean {
 
     /*
      * @see org.springframework.ldap.core.LdapOperations#search(javax.naming.Name,
-     *      java.lang.String, int, org.springframework.ldap.core.AttributesMapper)
+     *      java.lang.String, int,
+     *      org.springframework.ldap.core.AttributesMapper)
      */
     public List search(Name base, String filter, int searchScope,
             AttributesMapper mapper) {
@@ -375,7 +397,8 @@ public class LdapTemplate implements LdapOperations, InitializingBean {
 
     /*
      * @see org.springframework.ldap.core.LdapOperations#search(java.lang.String,
-     *      java.lang.String, int, org.springframework.ldap.core.AttributesMapper)
+     *      java.lang.String, int,
+     *      org.springframework.ldap.core.AttributesMapper)
      */
     public List search(String base, String filter, int searchScope,
             AttributesMapper mapper) throws DataAccessException {
diff --git a/spring-ldap/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/LdapTemplateTest.java b/spring-ldap/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/LdapTemplateTest.java
index 8b76fc4f..6c8adb20 100644
--- a/spring-ldap/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/LdapTemplateTest.java
+++ b/spring-ldap/src/test/java/org/springframework/ldap/LdapTemplateTest.java
@@ -588,8 +588,8 @@ public class LdapTemplateTest extends TestCase {
 
         replay();
 
-        List list = tested.search(nameMock, "(ou=somevalue)",
-                controls, contextMapperMock, dirContextProcessorMock);
+        List list = tested.search(nameMock, "(ou=somevalue)", controls,
+                contextMapperMock, dirContextProcessorMock);
 
         verify();
 
@@ -1540,6 +1540,7 @@ public class LdapTemplateTest extends TestCase {
         searchExecutorControl.expectAndThrow(searchExecutorMock
                 .executeSearch(dirContextMock), ne);
 
+        dirContextProcessorMock.postProcess(dirContextMock);
         dirContextMock.close();
 
         exceptionTranslatorControl.expectAndReturn(exceptionTranslatorMock
@@ -1655,9 +1656,12 @@ public class LdapTemplateTest extends TestCase {
     public void testSearch_PartialResult_IgnoreNotSet() throws NamingException {
         expectGetReadOnlyContext();
 
+        dirContextProcessorMock.preProcess(dirContextMock);
+
         PartialResultException ex = new PartialResultException();
         searchExecutorControl.expectAndThrow(searchExecutorMock
                 .executeSearch(dirContextMock), ex);
+        dirContextProcessorMock.postProcess(dirContextMock);
         dirContextMock.close();
 
         exceptionTranslatorControl.expectAndReturn(exceptionTranslatorMock
@@ -1666,7 +1670,8 @@ public class LdapTemplateTest extends TestCase {
         replay();
 
         try {
-            tested.search(searchExecutorMock, handlerMock);
+            tested.search(searchExecutorMock, handlerMock,
+                    dirContextProcessorMock);
             fail("EntryNotFoundException expected");
         } catch (EntryNotFoundException expected) {
             assertTrue(true);
@@ -1680,13 +1685,17 @@ public class LdapTemplateTest extends TestCase {
 
         expectGetReadOnlyContext();
 
+        dirContextProcessorMock.preProcess(dirContextMock);
+
         searchExecutorControl.expectAndThrow(searchExecutorMock
                 .executeSearch(dirContextMock), new PartialResultException());
+
+        dirContextProcessorMock.postProcess(dirContextMock);
         dirContextMock.close();
 
         replay();
 
-        tested.search(searchExecutorMock, handlerMock);
+        tested.search(searchExecutorMock, handlerMock, dirContextProcessorMock);
 
         verify();
     }