diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/TestMRApps.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/TestMRApps.java
index 5cf2397c4d4..9c36eebf27a 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/TestMRApps.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-common/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/v2/util/TestMRApps.java
@@ -182,9 +182,10 @@ public class TestMRApps {
     MRApps.setClasspath(environment, job.getConfiguration());
     assertTrue(environment.get("CLASSPATH").startsWith(
       ApplicationConstants.Environment.PWD.$() + File.pathSeparator));
-    String yarnAppClasspath = 
-        job.getConfiguration().get(
-            YarnConfiguration.YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH);
+    String yarnAppClasspath = job.getConfiguration().get(
+        YarnConfiguration.YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH,
+        StringUtils.join(",",
+            YarnConfiguration.DEFAULT_YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH));
     if (yarnAppClasspath != null) {
       yarnAppClasspath = yarnAppClasspath.replaceAll(",\\s*", File.pathSeparator)
         .trim();
@@ -217,7 +218,10 @@ public class TestMRApps {
     MRApps.setClasspath(environment, conf);
     assertTrue(environment.get("CLASSPATH").startsWith(
       ApplicationConstants.Environment.PWD.$() + File.pathSeparator));
-    String confClasspath = job.getConfiguration().get(YarnConfiguration.YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH);
+    String confClasspath = job.getConfiguration().get(
+        YarnConfiguration.YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH,
+        StringUtils.join(",",
+            YarnConfiguration.DEFAULT_YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH));
     if (confClasspath != null) {
       confClasspath = confClasspath.replaceAll(",\\s*", File.pathSeparator)
         .trim();
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/security/ssl/TestEncryptedShuffle.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/security/ssl/TestEncryptedShuffle.java
index 6f630aecb6b..10f871404be 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/security/ssl/TestEncryptedShuffle.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-jobclient/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/security/ssl/TestEncryptedShuffle.java
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.RunningJob;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.MRConfig;
 import org.apache.hadoop.security.ssl.KeyStoreTestUtil;
+import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.yarn.conf.YarnConfiguration;
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
@@ -86,8 +87,10 @@ public class TestEncryptedShuffle {
     conf.set("dfs.block.access.token.enable", "false");
     conf.set("dfs.permissions", "true");
     conf.set("hadoop.security.authentication", "simple");
-    String cp = conf.get(YarnConfiguration.YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH) +
-      File.pathSeparator + classpathDir;
+    String cp = conf.get(YarnConfiguration.YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH,
+        StringUtils.join(",",
+            YarnConfiguration.DEFAULT_YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH))
+        + File.pathSeparator + classpathDir;
     conf.set(YarnConfiguration.YARN_APPLICATION_CLASSPATH, cp);
     dfsCluster = new MiniDFSCluster(conf, 1, true, null);
     FileSystem fileSystem = dfsCluster.getFileSystem();
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
index 44fefb21ac5..083d5b55c50 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -395,6 +395,9 @@ Release 2.3.0 - UNRELEASED
     YARN-1438. Ensure container diagnostics includes exception from container
     launch. (stevel via acmurthy)
 
+    YARN-1138. yarn.application.classpath is set to point to $HADOOP_CONF_DIR
+    etc., which does not work on Windows. (Chuan Liu via cnauroth)
+
 Release 2.2.0 - 2013-10-13
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/resources/yarn-default.xml b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/resources/yarn-default.xml
index 6fe45ae9d23..ead11eb7123 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/resources/yarn-default.xml
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-common/src/main/resources/yarn-default.xml
@@ -1016,10 +1016,29 @@
   <!-- Applications' Configuration-->
   
   <property>
-    <description>CLASSPATH for YARN applications. A comma-separated list
-    of CLASSPATH entries</description>
-     <name>yarn.application.classpath</name>
-     <value>$HADOOP_CONF_DIR,$HADOOP_COMMON_HOME/share/hadoop/common/*,$HADOOP_COMMON_HOME/share/hadoop/common/lib/*,$HADOOP_HDFS_HOME/share/hadoop/hdfs/*,$HADOOP_HDFS_HOME/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/*,$HADOOP_YARN_HOME/share/hadoop/yarn/*,$HADOOP_YARN_HOME/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/*</value>
+    <description>
+      CLASSPATH for YARN applications. A comma-separated list
+      of CLASSPATH entries. When this value is empty, the following default
+      CLASSPATH for YARN applications would be used. 
+      For Linux:
+      $HADOOP_CONF_DIR,
+      $HADOOP_COMMON_HOME/share/hadoop/common/*,
+      $HADOOP_COMMON_HOME/share/hadoop/common/lib/*,
+      $HADOOP_HDFS_HOME/share/hadoop/hdfs/*,
+      $HADOOP_HDFS_HOME/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/*,
+      $HADOOP_YARN_HOME/share/hadoop/yarn/*,
+      $HADOOP_YARN_HOME/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/*
+      For Windows:
+      %HADOOP_CONF_DIR%,
+      %HADOOP_COMMON_HOME%/share/hadoop/common/*,
+      %HADOOP_COMMON_HOME%/share/hadoop/common/lib/*,
+      %HADOOP_HDFS_HOME%/share/hadoop/hdfs/*,
+      %HADOOP_HDFS_HOME%/share/hadoop/hdfs/lib/*,
+      %HADOOP_YARN_HOME%/share/hadoop/yarn/*,
+      %HADOOP_YARN_HOME%/share/hadoop/yarn/lib/*
+    </description>
+    <name>yarn.application.classpath</name>
+    <value></value>
   </property>
 
   <!-- Other configuration -->