diff --git a/services/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/api/site/LogUtils.java b/services/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/api/site/LogUtils.java
index 32a39a6990f..c9ac2a94741 100644
--- a/services/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/api/site/LogUtils.java
+++ b/services/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/api/site/LogUtils.java
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 import org.fao.geonet.exceptions.OperationAbortedEx;
 import org.fao.geonet.kernel.setting.Settings;
 import org.fao.geonet.repository.SettingRepository;
-import org.springframework.beans.BeansException;
 
 import java.net.MalformedURLException;
 import java.net.URL;
@@ -44,6 +43,7 @@
 public class LogUtils {
     public static final String DEFAULT_LOG_FILE = "log4j.xml";
 
+    public static final String GEONETWORK_LOG_CONFIGDIR_PROP = "geonetwork.log.configdir";
 
     /**
      * Refresh logger configuration. If settings is not set in database, using default log4j.xml
@@ -60,12 +60,7 @@ public static void refreshLogConfiguration() {
         }
 
 
-        String loggingConfigurationPath;
-        try {
-            loggingConfigurationPath = (String) ApplicationContextHolder.get().getBean("loggingConfigurationPath");
-        } catch (BeansException e) {
-            loggingConfigurationPath = null;
-        }
+        String loggingConfigurationPath = System.getProperty(GEONETWORK_LOG_CONFIGDIR_PROP);
         // get log config from db settings
         String log4jProp = setting != null ? setting.getValue() : DEFAULT_LOG_FILE;
         URL url ;
diff --git a/services/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/api/site/LoggingApi.java b/services/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/api/site/LoggingApi.java
index 7b3a9a017af..632c45496ab 100644
--- a/services/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/api/site/LoggingApi.java
+++ b/services/src/main/java/org/fao/geonet/api/site/LoggingApi.java
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.log4j.FileAppender;
 import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
-import org.fao.geonet.ApplicationContextHolder;
 import org.fao.geonet.api.site.model.ListLogFilesResponse;
 import org.fao.geonet.constants.Geonet;
 import org.fao.geonet.kernel.GeonetworkDataDirectory;
@@ -92,13 +91,10 @@ public List<ListLogFilesResponse.LogFileResponse> getLogFiles(
         java.util.List<ListLogFilesResponse.LogFileResponse> logFileList =
             new ArrayList<>();
         String loggingConfigurationFolder = dataDirectory.getWebappDir() + "/WEB-INF/classes";
-        // overrides if a "loggingConfigurationPath" bean is available
-        try {
-            loggingConfigurationFolder = (String) ApplicationContextHolder.get().getBean("loggingConfigurationPath");
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            // stick with the folder in the classpath.
+        // overrides if a "geonetwork.log.configdir" is available as a java property
+        if (System.getProperty(LogUtils.GEONETWORK_LOG_CONFIGDIR_PROP) != null) {
+            loggingConfigurationFolder = System.getProperty(LogUtils.GEONETWORK_LOG_CONFIGDIR_PROP);
         }
-
         File folder = new File(loggingConfigurationFolder);
 
         if (folder != null && folder.isDirectory()) {