diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/ConfigSolrXml.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/ConfigSolrXml.java
index 67723026912..880fe80cfdd 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/ConfigSolrXml.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/ConfigSolrXml.java
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ public class ConfigSolrXml extends ConfigSolr {
     
     fillPropMap();
     
-    String coreRoot = get(CfgProp.SOLR_COREROOTDIRECTORY, container.getSolrHome());
+    String coreRoot = get(CfgProp.SOLR_COREROOTDIRECTORY, (container == null ? null : container.getSolrHome()));
     coreDescriptorMap = solrCoreDiscoverer.discover(container, new File(coreRoot));
   }
   
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCores.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCores.java
index 560f81ed9eb..2d1acf4094e 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCores.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCores.java
@@ -1,5 +1,22 @@
 package org.apache.solr.core;
 
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
 import java.io.File;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -105,9 +122,6 @@ class SolrCores {
           CoreContainer.log.info("Core " + coreName + " moved from core container list before closing.");
         } else {
           try {
-            // nocommit: wtf is this?
-           // addPersistOneCore(cfg, container.loader, core.getCoreDescriptor(), getCoreToOrigName(core));
-
             core.close();
           } catch (Throwable t) {
             SolrException.log(CoreContainer.log, "Error shutting down core", t);
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/core/TestCoreDiscovery.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/core/TestCoreDiscovery.java
index 214ff218317..c9df520edfc 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/core/TestCoreDiscovery.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/core/TestCoreDiscovery.java
@@ -109,7 +109,6 @@ public class TestCoreDiscovery extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
     CoreContainer.Initializer init = new CoreContainer.Initializer();
 
     final CoreContainer cores = init.initialize();
-
     cores.setPersistent(false);
     return cores;
   }
@@ -139,11 +138,6 @@ public class TestCoreDiscovery extends SolrTestCaseJ4 {
     try {
       assertNull("defaultCore no longer allowed in solr.xml", cc.getDefaultCoreName());
 
-      assertEquals("222.333.444.555", cc.zkSys.getHost());
-      assertEquals("6000", cc.zkSys.getHostPort());
-      assertEquals("solrprop", cc.zkSys.getHostContext());
-      assertEquals(20, cc.zkSys.getZkClientTimeout());
-
       TestLazyCores.checkInCores(cc, "core1");
       TestLazyCores.checkNotInCores(cc, "lazy1", "core2", "collection1");