diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveUtils.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveUtils.scala
index c3ae3d58a351e..2e6811d5f259d 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveUtils.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveUtils.scala
@@ -338,18 +338,20 @@ private[spark] object HiveUtils extends Logging {
       }
 
       val classLoader = Utils.getContextOrSparkClassLoader
-      val jars = allJars(classLoader)
-      if (SystemUtils.isJavaVersionAtLeast(JavaVersion.JAVA_9)) {
+      val jars: Array[URL] = if (SystemUtils.isJavaVersionAtLeast(JavaVersion.JAVA_9)) {
         // Do nothing. The system classloader is no longer a URLClassLoader in Java 9,
-        // so it won't match the case in allJars above. It no longer exposes URLs of
+        // so it won't match the case in allJars. It no longer exposes URLs of
         // the system classpath
+        Array.empty[URL]
       } else {
+        val loadedJars = allJars(classLoader)
         // Verify at least one jar was found
-        if (jars.length == 0) {
+        if (loadedJars.length == 0) {
           throw new IllegalArgumentException(
             "Unable to locate hive jars to connect to metastore. " +
               s"Please set ${HIVE_METASTORE_JARS.key}.")
         }
+        loadedJars
       }
 
       logInfo(