diff --git a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/managed/DefaultManagedRepositoryAdmin.java b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/managed/DefaultManagedRepositoryAdmin.java
index b110d4285..ce884bfc1 100644
--- a/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/managed/DefaultManagedRepositoryAdmin.java
+++ b/archiva-modules/archiva-base/archiva-repository-admin/archiva-repository-admin-default/src/main/java/org/apache/archiva/admin/repository/managed/DefaultManagedRepositoryAdmin.java
@@ -561,8 +561,9 @@ public class DefaultManagedRepositoryAdmin
         if ( !file.isAbsolute() )
         {
             // add appserver.base/repositories
-            file = new File( getRegistry().getString( "appserver.base" ) + File.separatorChar + "repositories",
-                             repository.getLocation() );
+            file = new File(
+                getRegistry().getString( "appserver.base" ) + File.separatorChar + "data" + File.separatorChar
+                    + "repositories", repository.getLocation() );
         }
         repository.setLocation( file.getCanonicalPath() );
         if ( !file.exists() )