diff --git a/security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jSecurityInterceptor.java b/security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jSecurityInterceptor.java
index 4e6000b7..64ab0c5e 100755
--- a/security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jSecurityInterceptor.java
+++ b/security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jSecurityInterceptor.java
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import javax.security.auth.callback.CallbackHandler;
 import javax.security.auth.callback.UnsupportedCallbackException;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean;
-import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.CollectionUtils;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
@@ -471,11 +470,10 @@ public class Wss4jSecurityInterceptor extends AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor impl
     }
 
     /**
-     * Sets the location of the SAML properties file.
+     * Sets the location of the SAML properties file. The file should be available on the classpath.
      */
-    public void setSamlProperties(Resource location) throws IOException {
-        Assert.isTrue(location.exists(), "SAML properties file [ " + location + "] does not exist");
-        handler.setOption(WSHandlerConstants.SAML_PROP_FILE, location.getFile().getAbsolutePath());
+    public void setSamlProperties(String location) {
+        handler.setOption(WSHandlerConstants.SAML_PROP_FILE, location);
     }
 
     public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {