Create a directory  /tmp/files  for overlay Start JBoss EAP 7.2.5.GA Deploy an web app having  <overlay>  setting in jboss-web.xml <?xml version= "1.0" encoding= "UTF-8" ?> <jboss-web> <overlay>/tmp/files/</overlay> </jboss-web> echo 'aaa' > /tmp/files/index.html Notice that index.html already exist in the web app curl[ http://localhost:8080/JSPSample/index.html |http://localhost:8080/JSPSample/index.html] aaa is not displayed -> wrong echo '111' > /tmp/files/index1.html Notice that index1.html does not exist in the web app curl http://localhost:8080/JSPSample/index1.html 111 is displayed -> right echo '222' > /tmp/files/index1.html Notice that index1.html does not exist in the web app but is modified in the overlay curl http://localhost:8080/JSPSample/index1.html 222 is displayed -> right   However, if I create the overlay with CLI it works: echo 'aaa' > /tmp/overlay/index.html deployment-overlay add --name=myOverlay --content=index.html=/tmp/overlay/index.html --deployments=JSPSample.war --redeploy-affected curl http://localhost:8080/JSPSample/index.html aaa is displayed -> correct But If I modify the index.html the result is not updated: echo 'bbb' > /tmp/overlay/index.html curl http://localhost:8080/JSPSample/index.html bbb is not displayed -> wrong