diff --git a/solr/CHANGES.txt b/solr/CHANGES.txt
index c562a856f3b..8d0142e0bc0 100644
--- a/solr/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/solr/CHANGES.txt
@@ -477,6 +477,9 @@ Other Changes
 
 * SOLR-11016: Fix TestCloudJSONFacetJoinDomain test-only bug (hossman)
 
+* SOLR-11021: The elevate.xml config-file is made optional in the ElevationComponent.
+  The default configset doesn't ship with a elevate.xml file anymore (Varun Thacker)
+
 ==================  6.7.0 ==================
 
 Consult the LUCENE_CHANGES.txt file for additional, low level, changes in this release.
diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/QueryElevationComponent.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/QueryElevationComponent.java
index 3f3dd5c99b8..6511c673d1b 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/QueryElevationComponent.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/handler/component/QueryElevationComponent.java
@@ -204,53 +204,51 @@ public class QueryElevationComponent extends SearchComponent implements SolrCore
     }
     core.addTransformerFactory(markerName, elevatedMarkerFactory);
     forceElevation = initArgs.getBool(QueryElevationParams.FORCE_ELEVATION, forceElevation);
-    try {
-      synchronized (elevationCache) {
-        elevationCache.clear();
-        String f = initArgs.get(CONFIG_FILE);
-        if (f == null) {
-          throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR,
-              "QueryElevationComponent must specify argument: '" + CONFIG_FILE
-                  + "' -- path to elevate.xml");
-        }
-        boolean exists = false;
 
-        // check if using ZooKeeper
-        ZkController zkController = core.getCoreContainer().getZkController();
-        if (zkController != null) {
-          // TODO : shouldn't have to keep reading the config name when it has been read before
-          exists = zkController.configFileExists(zkController.getZkStateReader().readConfigName(core.getCoreDescriptor().getCloudDescriptor().getCollectionName()), f);
-        } else {
-          File fC = new File(core.getResourceLoader().getConfigDir(), f);
-          File fD = new File(core.getDataDir(), f);
-          if (fC.exists() == fD.exists()) {
-            throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR,
-                "QueryElevationComponent missing config file: '" + f + "\n"
-                    + "either: " + fC.getAbsolutePath() + " or " + fD.getAbsolutePath() + " must exist, but not both.");
+    String f = initArgs.get(CONFIG_FILE);
+    if (f != null) {
+      try {
+        synchronized (elevationCache) {
+          elevationCache.clear();
+          boolean exists = false;
+
+          // check if using ZooKeeper
+          ZkController zkController = core.getCoreContainer().getZkController();
+          if (zkController != null) {
+            // TODO : shouldn't have to keep reading the config name when it has been read before
+            exists = zkController.configFileExists(zkController.getZkStateReader().readConfigName(core.getCoreDescriptor().getCloudDescriptor().getCollectionName()), f);
+          } else {
+            File fC = new File(core.getResourceLoader().getConfigDir(), f);
+            File fD = new File(core.getDataDir(), f);
+            if (fC.exists() == fD.exists()) {
+              throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR,
+                  "QueryElevationComponent missing config file: '" + f + "\n"
+                      + "either: " + fC.getAbsolutePath() + " or " + fD.getAbsolutePath() + " must exist, but not both.");
+            }
+            if (fC.exists()) {
+              exists = true;
+              log.info("Loading QueryElevation from: " + fC.getAbsolutePath());
+              Config cfg = new Config(core.getResourceLoader(), f);
+              elevationCache.put(null, loadElevationMap(cfg));
+            }
           }
-          if (fC.exists()) {
-            exists = true;
-            log.info("Loading QueryElevation from: " + fC.getAbsolutePath());
-            Config cfg = new Config(core.getResourceLoader(), f);
-            elevationCache.put(null, loadElevationMap(cfg));
-          }
-        }
-        //in other words, we think this is in the data dir, not the conf dir
-        if (!exists) {
-          // preload the first data
-          RefCounted<SolrIndexSearcher> searchHolder = null;
-          try {
-            searchHolder = core.getNewestSearcher(false);
-            IndexReader reader = searchHolder.get().getIndexReader();
-            getElevationMap(reader, core);
-          } finally {
-            if (searchHolder != null) searchHolder.decref();
+          //in other words, we think this is in the data dir, not the conf dir
+          if (!exists) {
+            // preload the first data
+            RefCounted<SolrIndexSearcher> searchHolder = null;
+            try {
+              searchHolder = core.getNewestSearcher(false);
+              IndexReader reader = searchHolder.get().getIndexReader();
+              getElevationMap(reader, core);
+            } finally {
+              if (searchHolder != null) searchHolder.decref();
+            }
           }
         }
+      } catch (Exception ex) {
+        throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR,
+            "Error initializing QueryElevationComponent.", ex);
       }
-    } catch (Exception ex) {
-      throw new SolrException(SolrException.ErrorCode.SERVER_ERROR,
-          "Error initializing QueryElevationComponent.", ex);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/elevate.xml b/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/elevate.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2c09ebed669..00000000000
--- a/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/elevate.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
-<!--
- 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.
--->
-
-<!-- If this file is found in the config directory, it will only be
-     loaded once at startup.  If it is found in Solr's data
-     directory, it will be re-loaded every commit.
-
-   See http://wiki.apache.org/solr/QueryElevationComponent for more info
-
--->
-<elevate>
- <!-- Query elevation examples
-  <query text="foo bar">
-    <doc id="1" />
-    <doc id="2" />
-    <doc id="3" />
-  </query>
-
-for use with techproducts example
- 
-  <query text="ipod">
-    <doc id="MA147LL/A" />  put the actual ipod at the top 
-    <doc id="IW-02" exclude="true" /> exclude this cable
-  </query>
--->
-
-</elevate>
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml b/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
index f53636f474e..aa1ae698bd8 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
+++ b/solr/core/src/test-files/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
@@ -1004,7 +1004,6 @@
   <searchComponent name="elevator" class="solr.QueryElevationComponent" >
     <!-- pick a fieldType to analyze queries -->
     <str name="queryFieldType">string</str>
-    <str name="config-file">elevate.xml</str>
   </searchComponent>
 
   <!-- A request handler for demonstrating the elevator component -->
diff --git a/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/elevate.xml b/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/elevate.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2c09ebed669..00000000000
--- a/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/elevate.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
-<!--
- 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.
--->
-
-<!-- If this file is found in the config directory, it will only be
-     loaded once at startup.  If it is found in Solr's data
-     directory, it will be re-loaded every commit.
-
-   See http://wiki.apache.org/solr/QueryElevationComponent for more info
-
--->
-<elevate>
- <!-- Query elevation examples
-  <query text="foo bar">
-    <doc id="1" />
-    <doc id="2" />
-    <doc id="3" />
-  </query>
-
-for use with techproducts example
- 
-  <query text="ipod">
-    <doc id="MA147LL/A" />  put the actual ipod at the top 
-    <doc id="IW-02" exclude="true" /> exclude this cable
-  </query>
--->
-
-</elevate>
diff --git a/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml b/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
index f53636f474e..aa1ae698bd8 100644
--- a/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
+++ b/solr/server/solr/configsets/_default/conf/solrconfig.xml
@@ -1004,7 +1004,6 @@
   <searchComponent name="elevator" class="solr.QueryElevationComponent" >
     <!-- pick a fieldType to analyze queries -->
     <str name="queryFieldType">string</str>
-    <str name="config-file">elevate.xml</str>
   </searchComponent>
 
   <!-- A request handler for demonstrating the elevator component -->