diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/controller/MetadataResolversController.java b/backend/src/main/java/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/controller/MetadataResolversController.java
index bfdf164a6..4593d8bbf 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/controller/MetadataResolversController.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/controller/MetadataResolversController.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
 import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.StringWriter;
 import java.net.URI;
@@ -151,7 +152,13 @@ public ResponseEntity<?> update(@PathVariable String resourceId, @RequestBody Me
         MetadataResolver persistedResolver = resolverRepository.save(updatedResolver);
 
         if (persistedResolver.getDoInitialization()) {
-            org.opensaml.saml.metadata.resolver.MetadataResolver openSamlRepresentation = metadataResolverConverterService.convertToOpenSamlRepresentation(persistedResolver);
+            org.opensaml.saml.metadata.resolver.MetadataResolver openSamlRepresentation = null;
+            try {
+                openSamlRepresentation = metadataResolverConverterService.convertToOpenSamlRepresentation(persistedResolver);
+            } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+                return ResponseEntity.status(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR)
+                        .body(new ErrorResponse(HttpStatus.INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR.toString(), "label.file-doesnt-exist"));
+            }
             OpenSamlChainingMetadataResolverUtil.updateChainingMetadataResolver((OpenSamlChainingMetadataResolver) chainingMetadataResolver, openSamlRepresentation);
         }
 
diff --git a/backend/src/main/java/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/MetadataResolverConverterServiceImpl.java b/backend/src/main/java/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/MetadataResolverConverterServiceImpl.java
index ed7a5f657..638a6307f 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/java/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/MetadataResolverConverterServiceImpl.java
+++ b/backend/src/main/java/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/MetadataResolverConverterServiceImpl.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
 import javax.validation.ConstraintViolationException;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.URL;
 
@@ -62,6 +63,9 @@ private OpenSamlFileBackedHTTPMetadataResolver convertToOpenSamlRepresentation(F
     private OpenSamlFilesystemMetadataResolver convertToOpenSamlRepresentation(FilesystemMetadataResolver resolver) throws IOException, ResolverException, ComponentInitializationException {
         IndexWriter indexWriter = indexWriterService.getIndexWriter(resolver.getResourceId());
         File metadataFile = new File(resolver.getMetadataFile());
+        if (resolver.getDoInitialization() && !metadataFile.exists()) {
+            throw new FileNotFoundException("No file was found on the fileysystem for provided filename: " + resolver.getMetadataFile());
+        }
 
         OpenSamlFilesystemMetadataResolver openSamlResolver = new OpenSamlFilesystemMetadataResolver(openSamlObjects.getParserPool(),
                                                       indexWriter,
diff --git a/backend/src/main/resources/i18n/messages.properties b/backend/src/main/resources/i18n/messages.properties
index 4216d84f2..87aaf7299 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/resources/i18n/messages.properties
+++ b/backend/src/main/resources/i18n/messages.properties
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ label.attribute-employeeNumber=employeeNumber
 label.force-authn=Force AuthN
 
 label.do-resolver-initialization=Initialize
+label.file-doesnt-exist=The file specified in the resolver does not exist on the file system. Therefore, the resolver cannot be initialized.
 
 message.must-be-unique=Must be unique.
 message.name-must-be-unique=Name must be unique.
diff --git a/backend/src/main/resources/i18n/messages_en.properties b/backend/src/main/resources/i18n/messages_en.properties
index 294b86c43..b6781491d 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/resources/i18n/messages_en.properties
+++ b/backend/src/main/resources/i18n/messages_en.properties
@@ -339,6 +339,7 @@ label.attribute-employeeNumber=employeeNumber
 label.force-authn=Force AuthN
 
 label.do-resolver-initialization=Initialize
+label.file-doesnt-exist=The file specified in the resolver does not exist on the file system. Therefore, the resolver cannot be initialized.
 
 message.must-be-unique=Must be unique.
 message.name-must-be-unique=Name must be unique.