What causes "Unable to load image from classpath : ' '" in pentaho/pentaho-kettle?

Check the wrapped cause to identify the parse vs IO failure and fix the SVG file.

pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

Unable to load image from classpath

Error message

Unable to load image from classpath : '<fileName>'

What it means

In SwingGC.getImageIcon, the SVG branch (SvgSupport enabled, .svg name) wraps any exception from SvgSupport.loadSvgImage as KettleException("Unable to load image from classpath : '<fileName>'", ex). The input comes from FileInputStream on the given name, so parsing/IO failures on the SVG file surface under this misleading 'classpath' message.

Solutions

Check the wrapped cause to identify the parse vs IO failure and fix the SVG file.
Validate the SVG externally (browser/editor) and re-export if needed.
Disable SVG support and ship PNG icons if the renderer library is unavailable.
Confirm file read permissions on the icon path.

Example fix

// before
// broken logo.svg -> KettleException: Unable to load image from classpath : 'logo.svg'
// after
// use a valid SVG or fall back:
String fileName = svgIsValid ? "logo.svg" : "logo.png";

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

File svg = new File(fileName);
if (!svg.isFile() || svg.length() == 0) { fileName = PNG_FALLBACK; }
else if (!looksLikeSvg(svg)) { fileName = PNG_FALLBACK; }

Try / catch

try {
  image = gc.getImageIcon(fileName);
} catch (KettleException e) {
  Throwable cause = e.getCause();
  log.error("SVG parse failed for " + fileName + ": " + cause, cause);
  image = loadPngFallback(fileName);
}

Prevention

Ensure SVG rendering dependencies ship with the application.
Validate all SVG assets at build time.
Keep PNG fallbacks alongside SVG icons.
Watch for deployments that strip optional jars (renderer libraries).

When it happens

Trigger: SVG-enabled environment, .svg fileName, and loadSvgImage throws — malformed SVG XML, unreadable file, or missing/broken SVG rendering library.

Common situations: Missing SVG renderer dependency in headless or minimal deployments; corrupt or wrong-content .svg icons; SVGs using unsupported features.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to read file", EACCES, ENOENT and "could not read <path>" errors: when a program can't read a file from disk — this error's family across 49 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/42bb3b3971aa2ff3. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at engine/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/core/gui/SwingGC.java:276

      if ( inputStream == null ) {
        try {
          inputStream = new FileInputStream( "/" + fileName );
        } catch ( FileNotFoundException ex ) {
          // no need to fail
        }
      }
      if ( inputStream == null ) {
        inputStream = getClass().getResourceAsStream( fileName );
      }
      if ( inputStream == null ) {
        inputStream = getClass().getResourceAsStream( "/" + fileName );
      }
      if ( inputStream != null ) {
        try {
          SvgImage svg = SvgSupport.loadSvgImage( inputStream );
          image = new SwingUniversalImageSvg( svg );
        } catch ( Exception ex ) {
          throw new KettleException( "Unable to load image from classpath : '" + fileName + "'", ex );
        } finally {
          IOUtils.closeQuietly( inputStream );
        }
      }
    }

    if ( image == null ) {
      fileName = SvgSupport.toPngName( fileName );

      try {
        inputStream = new FileInputStream( fileName );
      } catch ( FileNotFoundException ex ) {
        // no need to fail
      }
      if ( inputStream == null ) {
        try {
          inputStream = new FileInputStream( "/" + fileName );
        } catch ( FileNotFoundException ex ) {

View on GitHub (pinned to f3058517a1)