diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/security/config/AuthenticationProviderBeanDefinitionParserTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/security/config/AuthenticationProviderBeanDefinitionParserTests.java
index 7a6b1c7629..ea2e475abb 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/security/config/AuthenticationProviderBeanDefinitionParserTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/springframework/security/config/AuthenticationProviderBeanDefinitionParserTests.java
@@ -3,47 +3,100 @@ package org.springframework.security.config;
 import org.springframework.security.providers.ProviderManager;
 import org.springframework.security.providers.UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken;
 import org.springframework.security.providers.AuthenticationProvider;
-import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
-import org.springframework.beans.BeansException;
+import org.springframework.security.util.InMemoryXmlApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.context.support.AbstractXmlApplicationContext;
 
-import org.junit.BeforeClass;
-import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.After;
 
 import java.util.List;
 
 /**
+ * Tests for {@link AuthenticationProviderBeanDefinitionParser}.
+ *
  * @author Luke Taylor
  * @version $Id$
  */
 public class AuthenticationProviderBeanDefinitionParserTests {
-    private static ClassPathXmlApplicationContext appContext;
-
-    @BeforeClass
-    public static void loadContext() {
-        try {
-            appContext = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("org/springframework/security/config/auth-provider.xml");
-        } catch (BeansException e) {
-            e.printStackTrace();
-        }
-    }
+    private AbstractXmlApplicationContext appContext;
+    private UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken bob = new UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken("bob", "bobspassword");
 
-    @AfterClass
-    public static void closeAppContext() {
+    @After
+    public void closeAppContext() {
         if (appContext != null) {
             appContext.close();
         }
     }
 
     @Test
-    public void configuredProvidersAllAuthenticateUser() {
+    public void worksWithEmbeddedUserService() {
+        setContext(" <authentication-provider>" +
+                "        <user-service>" +
+                "            <user name='bob' password='bobspassword' authorities='ROLE_A' />" +
+                "        </user-service>" +
+                "    </authentication-provider>");
+        getProvider().authenticate(bob);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void externalUserServiceRefWorks() throws Exception {
+        setContext(" <authentication-provider user-service-ref='myUserService' />" +
+                "    <user-service id='myUserService'>" +
+                "       <user name='bob' password='bobspassword' authorities='ROLE_A' />" +
+                "    </user-service>");
+        getProvider().authenticate(bob);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void providerWithMd5PasswordEncoderWorks() throws Exception {
+        setContext(" <authentication-provider>" +
+                "        <password-encoder hash='md5'/>" +
+                "        <user-service>" +
+                "            <user name='bob' password='12b141f35d58b8b3a46eea65e6ac179e' authorities='ROLE_A' />" +
+                "        </user-service>" +
+                "    </authentication-provider>");
+
+        getProvider().authenticate(bob);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void providerWithShaPasswordEncoderWorks() throws Exception {
+        setContext(" <authentication-provider>" +
+                "        <password-encoder hash='{sha}'/>" +
+                "        <user-service>" +
+                "            <user name='bob' password='{SSHA}PpuEwfdj7M1rs0C2W4ssSM2XEN/Y6S5U' authorities='ROLE_A' />" +
+                "        </user-service>" +
+                "    </authentication-provider>");
+
+        getProvider().authenticate(bob);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void externalUserServiceAndPasswordEncoderWork() throws Exception {
+        setContext(" <authentication-provider user-service-ref='customUserService'>" +
+                "        <password-encoder ref='customPasswordEncoder'>" +
+                "            <salt-source user-property='username'/>" +
+                "        </password-encoder>" +
+                "    </authentication-provider>" +
+
+                "    <b:bean id='customPasswordEncoder' " +
+                            "class='org.springframework.security.providers.encoding.Md5PasswordEncoder'/>" +
+
+                "    <b:bean id='customUserService' " +
+                "           class='org.springframework.security.userdetails.memory.InMemoryDaoImpl'>" +
+                "        <b:property name='userMap' value='bob=f117f0862384e9497ff4f470e3522606,ROLE_A'/>" +
+                "    </b:bean>");
+        getProvider().authenticate(bob);
+    }
+
+    private AuthenticationProvider getProvider() {
         List<AuthenticationProvider> providers =
                 ((ProviderManager)appContext.getBean(BeanIds.AUTHENTICATION_MANAGER)).getProviders();
 
-        UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken bob = new UsernamePasswordAuthenticationToken("bob", "bobspassword");
+        return providers.get(0);
+    }
 
-        for (AuthenticationProvider provider : providers) {
-            provider.authenticate(bob);
-        }
+    private void setContext(String context) {
+        appContext = new InMemoryXmlApplicationContext(context);
     }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/security/config/auth-provider.xml b/core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/security/config/auth-provider.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 393068609c..0000000000
--- a/core/src/test/resources/org/springframework/security/config/auth-provider.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-
-<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/security"
-    xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
-    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
-    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.0.xsd
-http://www.springframework.org/schema/security http://www.springframework.org/schema/security/spring-security-2.0.xsd">
-
-    <!-- All combinations should authenticate as bob/bobspassword -->
-
-    <authentication-provider>
-        <user-service>
-            <user name="bob" password="bobspassword" authorities="ROLE_A" />
-        </user-service>
-    </authentication-provider>
-
-    <authentication-provider user-service-ref="myUserService" />
-
-    <user-service id="myUserService">
-        <user name="bob" password="bobspassword" authorities="ROLE_A" />
-    </user-service>
-
-    <authentication-provider>
-        <password-encoder hash="md5"/>
-        <user-service>
-            <user name="bob" password="12b141f35d58b8b3a46eea65e6ac179e" authorities="ROLE_A" />
-        </user-service>
-    </authentication-provider>
-
-    <authentication-provider>
-        <password-encoder hash="{sha}"/>
-        <user-service>
-            <user name="bob" password="{SSHA}PpuEwfdj7M1rs0C2W4ssSM2XEN/Y6S5U" authorities="ROLE_A" />
-        </user-service>
-    </authentication-provider>
-
-    <!-- External beans for both UserDetailsService and PasswordEncoder -->
-    <authentication-provider user-service-ref="customUserService">
-        <password-encoder ref="customPasswordEncoder">
-            <salt-source user-property="username"/>
-        </password-encoder>
-    </authentication-provider>
-
-    <beans:bean id="customPasswordEncoder" class="org.springframework.security.providers.encoding.Md5PasswordEncoder"/>
-
-    <beans:bean id="customUserService" class="org.springframework.security.userdetails.memory.InMemoryDaoImpl">
-        <beans:property name="userMap" value="bob=f117f0862384e9497ff4f470e3522606,ROLE_A"/>
-    </beans:bean>
-
-</beans:beans>
\ No newline at end of file