diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java
index 182630c1434..6586e6c0bd2 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver.java
@@ -754,6 +754,7 @@ public class PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver implements ResourcePatternResol
 	protected Set<Resource> doFindPathMatchingFileResources(Resource rootDirResource, String subPattern)
 			throws IOException {
 
+		Set<Resource> result = new LinkedHashSet<>();
 		URI rootDirUri;
 		try {
 			rootDirUri = rootDirResource.getURI();
@@ -762,7 +763,7 @@ public class PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver implements ResourcePatternResol
 			if (logger.isWarnEnabled()) {
 				logger.warn("Failed to resolve directory [%s] as URI: %s".formatted(rootDirResource, ex));
 			}
-			return Collections.emptySet();
+			return result;
 		}
 
 		Path rootPath = null;
@@ -791,6 +792,14 @@ public class PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver implements ResourcePatternResol
 			rootPath = Path.of(rootDirResource.getFile().getAbsolutePath());
 		}
 
+		if (!Files.exists(rootPath)) {
+			if (logger.isInfoEnabled()) {
+				logger.info("Skipping search for files matching pattern [%s]: directory [%s] does not exist"
+						.formatted(subPattern, rootPath.toAbsolutePath()));
+			}
+			return result;
+		}
+
 		String rootDir = StringUtils.cleanPath(rootPath.toString());
 		if (!rootDir.endsWith("/")) {
 			rootDir += "/";
@@ -806,7 +815,6 @@ public class PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver implements ResourcePatternResol
 					.formatted(rootPath.toAbsolutePath(), subPattern));
 		}
 
-		Set<Resource> result = new LinkedHashSet<>();
 		try (Stream<Path> files = Files.walk(rootPath)) {
 			files.filter(isMatchingFile).sorted().map(FileSystemResource::new).forEach(result::add);
 		}
diff --git a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolverTests.java b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolverTests.java
index 61de1af5dce..b234739a270 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolverTests.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/core/io/support/PathMatchingResourcePatternResolverTests.java
@@ -90,6 +90,19 @@ class PathMatchingResourcePatternResolverTests {
 			assertFilenames(pattern, expectedFilenames);
 		}
 
+		@Test  // gh-31111
+		void usingFileProtocolWithWildcardInPatternAndNonexistentRootPath() throws IOException {
+			Path testResourcesDir = Paths.get("src/test/resources").toAbsolutePath();
+			String pattern = String.format("file:%s/example/bogus/**", testResourcesDir);
+			assertThat(resolver.getResources(pattern)).isEmpty();
+			// When the log level for the resolver is set to at least INFO, we should see
+			// a log entry similar to the following.
+			//
+			// [main] INFO  o.s.c.i.s.PathMatchingResourcePatternResolver -
+			// Skipping search for files matching pattern [**]: directory
+			// [/<...>/spring-core/src/test/resources/example/bogus] does not exist
+		}
+
 		@Test
 		void encodedHashtagInPath() throws IOException {
 			Path rootDir = Paths.get("src/test/resources/custom%23root").toAbsolutePath();