diff --git a/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/kubernetes/submit/submitsteps/initcontainer/InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator.scala b/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/kubernetes/submit/submitsteps/initcontainer/InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator.scala
index e4ea5235af18f..b99d4e86bf5bf 100644
--- a/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/kubernetes/submit/submitsteps/initcontainer/InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator.scala
+++ b/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/kubernetes/submit/submitsteps/initcontainer/InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator.scala
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.SparkConf
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.kubernetes.{InitContainerResourceStagingServerSecretPluginImpl, OptionRequirements, SparkPodInitContainerBootstrapImpl}
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.kubernetes.config._
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.kubernetes.constants._
-import org.apache.spark.deploy.kubernetes.submit.SubmittedDependencyUploaderImpl
+import org.apache.spark.deploy.kubernetes.submit.{KubernetesFileUtils, SubmittedDependencyUploaderImpl}
 import org.apache.spark.deploy.rest.kubernetes.{ResourceStagingServerSslOptionsProviderImpl, RetrofitClientFactoryImpl}
 import org.apache.spark.util.Utils
 
@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ private[spark] class InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator(
     submissionSparkConf.get(RESOURCE_STAGING_SERVER_INTERNAL_SSL_ENABLED)
       .orElse(submissionSparkConf.get(RESOURCE_STAGING_SERVER_SSL_ENABLED))
       .getOrElse(false)
+
+  OptionRequirements.requireSecondIfFirstIsDefined(
+    KubernetesFileUtils.getOnlySubmitterLocalFiles(sparkJars).headOption,
+    resourceStagingServerUri,
+    "Local JARs were provided, however no resource staging server URI was found.")
+
   OptionRequirements.requireNandDefined(
     maybeResourceStagingServerInternalClientCert,
     maybeResourceStagingServerInternalTrustStore,
diff --git a/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/kubernetes/submit/submitsteps/initcontainer/InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestratorSuite.scala b/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/kubernetes/submit/submitsteps/initcontainer/InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestratorSuite.scala
index 1cc8007803457..ea4d60795787c 100644
--- a/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/kubernetes/submit/submitsteps/initcontainer/InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestratorSuite.scala
+++ b/resource-managers/kubernetes/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/kubernetes/submit/submitsteps/initcontainer/InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestratorSuite.scala
@@ -44,6 +44,80 @@ class InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestratorSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
   private val INIT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_MAP_KEY = "spark-init-config-map-key"
   private val STAGING_SERVER_URI = "http://localhost:8000"
 
+  test ("error thrown if local jars provided without resource staging server") {
+    val sparkConf = new SparkConf(true)
+      .set(KUBERNETES_DRIVER_LABELS, s"$DEPRECATED_CUSTOM_LABEL_KEY=$DEPRECATED_CUSTOM_LABEL_VALUE")
+      .set(s"$KUBERNETES_DRIVER_LABEL_PREFIX$CUSTOM_LABEL_KEY", CUSTOM_LABEL_VALUE)
+
+    assert(sparkConf.get(RESOURCE_STAGING_SERVER_URI).isEmpty)
+
+    val thrown = intercept[IllegalArgumentException] {
+      val orchestrator = new InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator(
+        NAMESPACE,
+        APP_RESOURCE_PREFIX,
+        SPARK_JARS,
+        SPARK_FILES,
+        JARS_DOWNLOAD_PATH,
+        FILES_DOWNLOAD_PATH,
+        DOCKER_IMAGE_PULL_POLICY,
+        DRIVER_LABELS,
+        INIT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_MAP_NAME,
+        INIT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_MAP_KEY,
+        sparkConf)
+    }
+
+    assert(thrown.getMessage contains "Local JARs were provided, however no resource staging" +
+      " server URI was found.")
+  }
+
+  test ("error not thrown with non-local jars and resource staging server provided") {
+    val sparkConf = new SparkConf(true)
+      .set(KUBERNETES_DRIVER_LABELS, s"$DEPRECATED_CUSTOM_LABEL_KEY=$DEPRECATED_CUSTOM_LABEL_VALUE")
+      .set(s"$KUBERNETES_DRIVER_LABEL_PREFIX$CUSTOM_LABEL_KEY", CUSTOM_LABEL_VALUE)
+      .set(RESOURCE_STAGING_SERVER_URI, STAGING_SERVER_URI)
+
+    val orchestrator = new InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator(
+      NAMESPACE,
+      APP_RESOURCE_PREFIX,
+      SPARK_JARS.take(1),
+      SPARK_FILES,
+      JARS_DOWNLOAD_PATH,
+      FILES_DOWNLOAD_PATH,
+      DOCKER_IMAGE_PULL_POLICY,
+      DRIVER_LABELS,
+      INIT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_MAP_NAME,
+      INIT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_MAP_KEY,
+      sparkConf)
+    val initSteps : Seq[InitContainerConfigurationStep] =
+        orchestrator.getAllConfigurationSteps()
+    assert(initSteps.length == 2)
+    assert(initSteps.head.isInstanceOf[BaseInitContainerConfigurationStep])
+    assert(initSteps(1).isInstanceOf[SubmittedResourcesInitContainerConfigurationStep])
+  }
+
+  test ("error not thrown with non-local jars and no resource staging server provided") {
+    val sparkConf = new SparkConf(true)
+      .set(KUBERNETES_DRIVER_LABELS, s"$DEPRECATED_CUSTOM_LABEL_KEY=$DEPRECATED_CUSTOM_LABEL_VALUE")
+      .set(s"$KUBERNETES_DRIVER_LABEL_PREFIX$CUSTOM_LABEL_KEY", CUSTOM_LABEL_VALUE)
+
+    val orchestrator = new InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator(
+      NAMESPACE,
+      APP_RESOURCE_PREFIX,
+      SPARK_JARS.take(1),
+      SPARK_FILES,
+      JARS_DOWNLOAD_PATH,
+      FILES_DOWNLOAD_PATH,
+      DOCKER_IMAGE_PULL_POLICY,
+      DRIVER_LABELS,
+      INIT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_MAP_NAME,
+      INIT_CONTAINER_CONFIG_MAP_KEY,
+      sparkConf)
+    val initSteps : Seq[InitContainerConfigurationStep] =
+        orchestrator.getAllConfigurationSteps()
+    assert(initSteps.length == 1)
+    assert(initSteps.head.isInstanceOf[BaseInitContainerConfigurationStep])
+  }
+
   test ("including step to contact resource staging server") {
     val sparkConf = new SparkConf(true)
       .set(KUBERNETES_DRIVER_LABELS, s"$DEPRECATED_CUSTOM_LABEL_KEY=$DEPRECATED_CUSTOM_LABEL_VALUE")
@@ -77,7 +151,7 @@ class InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestratorSuite extends SparkFunSuite {
     val orchestrator = new InitContainerConfigurationStepsOrchestrator(
       NAMESPACE,
       APP_RESOURCE_PREFIX,
-      SPARK_JARS,
+      SPARK_JARS.take(1),
       SPARK_FILES,
       JARS_DOWNLOAD_PATH,
       FILES_DOWNLOAD_PATH,