diff --git a/starter/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/springboot/starter/CRDApplier.java b/starter/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/springboot/starter/CRDApplier.java
index f9cfdf7..dadfe21 100644
--- a/starter/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/springboot/starter/CRDApplier.java
+++ b/starter/src/main/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/springboot/starter/CRDApplier.java
@@ -1,21 +1,20 @@
 package io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.springboot.starter;
 
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.net.URISyntaxException;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.function.UnaryOperator;
 
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
+import org.springframework.core.io.support.PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver;
 
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.HasMetadata;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.ObjectMeta;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClient;
 
 import static java.util.Arrays.stream;
-import static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;
 import static java.util.stream.Collectors.joining;
 import static org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger;
 
@@ -58,23 +57,22 @@ public DefaultCRDApplier(KubernetesClient kubernetesClient, List<CRDTransformer>
     @Override
     public void apply() {
       log.debug("Uploading CRDs with suffix {} under {}", crdSuffix, crdPath);
-      stream(findFiles()).forEach(this::applyCrd);
+      stream(findResources()).forEach(this::applyCrd);
     }
 
-    private File[] findFiles() {
-      var resource = requireNonNull(
-          getClass().getResource(crdPath),
-          "Could not find the configured CRD path");
-
+    private Resource[] findResources() {
+      final var resourceResolver = new PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver();
+      final var resourceLocationPattern = Paths.get(crdPath, '*' + crdSuffix).toString();
       try {
-        return new File(resource.toURI()).listFiles((ignored, name) -> name.endsWith(crdSuffix));
-      } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-        throw new RuntimeException(e);
+        return resourceResolver.getResources(resourceLocationPattern);
+      } catch (IOException e) {
+        throw new RuntimeException(
+            "could not find CRD resources from the location pattern: " + resourceLocationPattern);
       }
     }
 
-    private void applyCrd(File crdFile) {
-      try (var is = new FileInputStream(crdFile)) {
+    private void applyCrd(Resource crdResource) {
+      try (var is = crdResource.getInputStream()) {
         var crds = kubernetesClient.load(is).items().stream().map(crdTransformer).toList();
         kubernetesClient.resourceList(crds).createOrReplace();
 
diff --git a/starter/src/test/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/springboot/starter/CRDApplierTest.java b/starter/src/test/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/springboot/starter/CRDApplierTest.java
index 9809173..3feb998 100644
--- a/starter/src/test/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/springboot/starter/CRDApplierTest.java
+++ b/starter/src/test/java/io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/springboot/starter/CRDApplierTest.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 import io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.springboot.starter.model.TestResource;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
-import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoInteractions;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
@@ -61,15 +60,4 @@ void shouldNotUploadWhenNoCrdsFound() {
 
     verifyNoInteractions(kubernetesClient);
   }
-
-  @Test
-  void shouldThrowWhenBadPath() {
-    crdPath = "badPath";
-    assertThatThrownBy(() -> applier().apply())
-        .isInstanceOf(NullPointerException.class)
-        .hasMessage("Could not find the configured CRD path");
-
-    verifyNoInteractions(kubernetesClient);
-  }
-
 }