diff --git a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat40Configuration.java b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat40Configuration.java
index a91b96e..fd8f91b 100644
--- a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat40Configuration.java
+++ b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat40Configuration.java
@@ -569,9 +569,21 @@
 		temp = confDir.append("temp").toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
-		temp = confDir.append("webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF").toFile();
+		IPath tempPath = confDir.append("webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF");
+		temp = tempPath.toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
+		temp = tempPath.append("web.xml").toFile();
+		if (!temp.exists()) {
+			FileWriter fw;
+			try {
+				fw = new FileWriter(temp);
+				fw.write(DEFAULT_WEBXML_SERVLET23);
+				fw.close();
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				Trace.trace(Trace.WARNING, "Unable to create web.xml for ROOT context.", e);
+			}
+		}
 		temp = confDir.append("work").toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
diff --git a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat41Configuration.java b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat41Configuration.java
index 3c73e44..7c1c1d0 100644
--- a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat41Configuration.java
+++ b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat41Configuration.java
@@ -711,9 +711,21 @@
 		temp = confDir.append("temp").toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
-		temp = confDir.append("webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF").toFile();
+		IPath tempPath = confDir.append("webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF");
+		temp = tempPath.toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
+		temp = tempPath.append("web.xml").toFile();
+		if (!temp.exists()) {
+			FileWriter fw;
+			try {
+				fw = new FileWriter(temp);
+				fw.write(DEFAULT_WEBXML_SERVLET23);
+				fw.close();
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				Trace.trace(Trace.WARNING, "Unable to create web.xml for ROOT context.", e);
+			}
+		}
 		temp = confDir.append("work").toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
diff --git a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat50Configuration.java b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat50Configuration.java
index f28d154..50e464e 100644
--- a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat50Configuration.java
+++ b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat50Configuration.java
@@ -788,9 +788,21 @@
 		temp = confDir.append("temp").toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
-		temp = confDir.append("webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF").toFile();
+		IPath tempPath = confDir.append("webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF");
+		temp = tempPath.toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
+		temp = tempPath.append("web.xml").toFile();
+		if (!temp.exists()) {
+			FileWriter fw;
+			try {
+				fw = new FileWriter(temp);
+				fw.write(DEFAULT_WEBXML_SERVLET24);
+				fw.close();
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				Trace.trace(Trace.WARNING, "Unable to create web.xml for ROOT context.", e);
+			}
+		}
 		temp = confDir.append("work").toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
diff --git a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat55Configuration.java b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat55Configuration.java
index f3ca74a..8f616ca 100644
--- a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat55Configuration.java
+++ b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/Tomcat55Configuration.java
@@ -688,9 +688,21 @@
 		temp = confDir.append("temp").toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
-		temp = confDir.append("webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF").toFile();
+		IPath tempPath = confDir.append("webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF");
+		temp = tempPath.toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
+		temp = tempPath.append("web.xml").toFile();
+		if (!temp.exists()) {
+			FileWriter fw;
+			try {
+				fw = new FileWriter(temp);
+				fw.write(DEFAULT_WEBXML_SERVLET24);
+				fw.close();
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				Trace.trace(Trace.WARNING, "Unable to create web.xml for ROOT context.", e);
+			}
+		}
 		temp = confDir.append("work").toFile();
 		if (!temp.exists())
 			temp.mkdirs();
diff --git a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/TomcatConfiguration.java b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/TomcatConfiguration.java
index f5c7fa3..3fce997 100644
--- a/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/TomcatConfiguration.java
+++ b/plugins/org.eclipse.jst.server.tomcat.core/tomcatcore/org/eclipse/jst/server/tomcat/core/internal/TomcatConfiguration.java
@@ -42,6 +42,16 @@
 	public static final String ADD_WEB_MODULE_PROPERTY = "addWebModule";
 	public static final String REMOVE_WEB_MODULE_PROPERTY = "removeWebModule";
 	
+	public static final String DEFAULT_WEBXML_SERVLET23 = 
+		"<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n" +
+		"<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC \"-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN\" \"http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd\">\n" +
+		"<web-app>\n</web-app>";
+	
+	public static final String DEFAULT_WEBXML_SERVLET24 = 
+	"<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n" +
+	"<web-app id=\"WebApp_ID\" version=\"2.4\" xmlns=\"http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee\" xmlns:xsi=\"http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance\" xsi:schemaLocation=\"http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd\">\n" +
+	"</web-app>";
+	
 	protected IFolder configPath;
 
 	// property change listeners