diff --git a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/aot/hint/ResourceHints.java b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/aot/hint/ResourceHints.java
index c0eab371184..fbca2547f0c 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/aot/hint/ResourceHints.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/aot/hint/ResourceHints.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import java.util.stream.Stream;
 import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
 import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.lang.Nullable;
+import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 
 /**
  * Gather the need for resources available at runtime.
@@ -113,15 +114,18 @@ public class ResourceHints {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Determine if the supplied resource is a {@link ClassPathResource} that
-	 * {@linkplain Resource#exists() exists} and register the resource for run-time
-	 * availability accordingly.
+	 * Register that the supplied resource should be made available at runtime.
+	 * <p>If the supplied resource is not a {@link ClassPathResource}, it will
+	 * not be registered.
 	 * @param resource the resource to register
+	 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if the supplied class path resource does
+	 * not {@linkplain Resource#exists() exist}
 	 * @see #registerPattern(String)
 	 * @see ClassPathResource#getAbsolutePath()
 	 */
-	public void registerResourceIfNecessary(Resource resource) {
-		if (resource instanceof ClassPathResource classPathResource && classPathResource.exists()) {
+	public void registerResource(Resource resource) {
+		if (resource instanceof ClassPathResource classPathResource) {
+			Assert.isTrue(classPathResource.exists(), () -> "Resource does not exist: " + classPathResource);
 			registerPattern(classPathResource.getAbsolutePath());
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/aot/hint/ResourceHintsTests.java b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/aot/hint/ResourceHintsTests.java
index 690c8f6d575..616d2997395 100644
--- a/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/aot/hint/ResourceHintsTests.java
+++ b/spring-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/aot/hint/ResourceHintsTests.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
 import org.springframework.core.io.DescriptiveResource;
 
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatIllegalArgumentException;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verifyNoInteractions;
 
@@ -114,32 +115,33 @@ class ResourceHintsTests {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	void registerResourceIfNecessaryWithUnsupportedResourceType() {
+	void registerResourceWithUnsupportedResourceType() {
 		DescriptiveResource resource = new DescriptiveResource("bogus");
-		this.resourceHints.registerResourceIfNecessary(resource);
+		this.resourceHints.registerResource(resource);
 		assertThat(this.resourceHints.resourcePatterns()).isEmpty();
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	void registerResourceIfNecessaryWithNonexistentClassPathResource() {
+	void registerResourceWithNonexistentClassPathResource() {
 		ClassPathResource resource = new ClassPathResource("bogus", getClass());
-		this.resourceHints.registerResourceIfNecessary(resource);
-		assertThat(this.resourceHints.resourcePatterns()).isEmpty();
+		assertThatIllegalArgumentException()
+			.isThrownBy(() -> this.resourceHints.registerResource(resource))
+			.withMessage("Resource does not exist: %s", resource);
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	void registerResourceIfNecessaryWithExistingClassPathResource() {
+	void registerResourceWithExistingClassPathResource() {
 		String path = "org/springframework/aot/hint/support";
 		ClassPathResource resource = new ClassPathResource(path);
-		this.resourceHints.registerResourceIfNecessary(resource);
+		this.resourceHints.registerResource(resource);
 		assertThat(this.resourceHints.resourcePatterns()).singleElement().satisfies(patternOf(path));
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	void registerResourceIfNecessaryWithExistingRelativeClassPathResource() {
+	void registerResourceWithExistingRelativeClassPathResource() {
 		String path = "org/springframework/aot/hint/support";
 		ClassPathResource resource = new ClassPathResource("support", RuntimeHints.class);
-		this.resourceHints.registerResourceIfNecessary(resource);
+		this.resourceHints.registerResource(resource);
 		assertThat(this.resourceHints.resourcePatterns()).singleElement().satisfies(patternOf(path));
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/aot/hint/StandardTestRuntimeHints.java b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/aot/hint/StandardTestRuntimeHints.java
index d245592b81e..fbc2c706519 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/aot/hint/StandardTestRuntimeHints.java
+++ b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/aot/hint/StandardTestRuntimeHints.java
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ class StandardTestRuntimeHints implements TestRuntimeHintsRegistrar {
 		Arrays.stream(paths)
 				.filter(path -> path.startsWith(CLASSPATH_URL_PREFIX))
 				.map(resourceLoader::getResource)
-				.forEach(runtimeHints.resources()::registerResourceIfNecessary);
+				.forEach(runtimeHints.resources()::registerResource);
 	}
 
 	private void registerClasspathResourceDirectoryStructure(String directory, RuntimeHints runtimeHints) {
diff --git a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/jdbc/SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener.java b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/jdbc/SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener.java
index 77102118c56..d0ad828c7bf 100644
--- a/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/jdbc/SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener.java
+++ b/spring-test/src/main/java/org/springframework/test/context/jdbc/SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener.java
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ public class SqlScriptsTestExecutionListener extends AbstractTestExecutionListen
 		Arrays.stream(paths)
 				.filter(path -> path.startsWith(CLASSPATH_URL_PREFIX))
 				.map(resourceLoader::getResource)
-				.forEach(runtimeHints.resources()::registerResourceIfNecessary);
+				.forEach(runtimeHints.resources()::registerResource);
 	}
 
 }
diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/WebUtilRuntimeHints.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/WebUtilRuntimeHints.java
index 80ec99ce02e..06976e58cdb 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/WebUtilRuntimeHints.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/WebUtilRuntimeHints.java
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
 
 /**
  * {@link RuntimeHintsRegistrar} implementation that registers resource
- * hints for web util classes.
+ * hints for web util resources.
  *
  * @author Sebastien Deleuze
  * @since 6.0
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ class WebUtilRuntimeHints implements RuntimeHintsRegistrar {
 
 	@Override
 	public void registerHints(RuntimeHints hints, ClassLoader classLoader) {
-		hints.resources().registerResourceIfNecessary(
+		hints.resources().registerResource(
 				new ClassPathResource("HtmlCharacterEntityReferences.properties", getClass()));
 	}
+
 }