diff --git a/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/AbstractCommandBuilder.java b/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/AbstractCommandBuilder.java
index a9d0e41aa3cbb..77a395ed1d2f1 100644
--- a/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/AbstractCommandBuilder.java
+++ b/launcher/src/main/java/org/apache/spark/launcher/AbstractCommandBuilder.java
@@ -145,6 +145,8 @@ List<String> buildClassPath(String appClassPath) throws IOException {
 
     boolean prependClasses = !isEmpty(getenv("SPARK_PREPEND_CLASSES"));
     boolean isTesting = "1".equals(getenv("SPARK_TESTING"));
+    boolean isTestingSql = "1".equals(getenv("SPARK_SQL_TESTING"));
+    String jarsDir = findJarsDir(getSparkHome(), getScalaVersion(), !isTesting && !isTestingSql);
     if (prependClasses || isTesting) {
       String scala = getScalaVersion();
       List<String> projects = Arrays.asList(
@@ -176,6 +178,9 @@ List<String> buildClassPath(String appClassPath) throws IOException {
             "NOTE: SPARK_PREPEND_CLASSES is set, placing locally compiled Spark classes ahead of " +
             "assembly.");
         }
+        boolean shouldPrePendSparkHive = isJarAvailable(jarsDir, "spark-hive_");
+        boolean shouldPrePendSparkHiveThriftServer =
+          shouldPrePendSparkHive && isJarAvailable(jarsDir, "spark-hive-thriftserver_");
         for (String project : projects) {
           // Do not use locally compiled class files for Spark server because it should use shaded
           // dependencies.
@@ -185,6 +190,24 @@ List<String> buildClassPath(String appClassPath) throws IOException {
           if (isRemote && "1".equals(getenv("SPARK_SCALA_SHELL")) && project.equals("sql/core")) {
             continue;
           }
+          // SPARK-49534: The assumption here is that if `spark-hive_xxx.jar` is not in the
+          // classpath, then the `-Phive` profile was not used during package, and therefore
+          // the Hive-related jars should also not be in the classpath. To avoid failure in
+          // loading the SPI in `DataSourceRegister` under `sql/hive`, no longer prepend `sql/hive`.
+          if (!shouldPrePendSparkHive && project.equals("sql/hive")) {
+            continue;
+          }
+          // SPARK-49534: Meanwhile, due to the strong dependency of `sql/hive-thriftserver`
+          // on `sql/hive`, the prepend for `sql/hive-thriftserver` will also be excluded
+          // if `spark-hive_xxx.jar` is not in the classpath. On the other hand, if
+          // `spark-hive-thriftserver_xxx.jar` is not in the classpath, then the
+          // `-Phive-thriftserver` profile was not used during package, and therefore,
+          // jars such as hive-cli and hive-beeline should also not be included in the classpath.
+          // To avoid the inelegant startup failures of tools such as spark-sql, in this scenario,
+          // `sql/hive-thriftserver` will no longer be prepended to the classpath.
+          if (!shouldPrePendSparkHiveThriftServer && project.equals("sql/hive-thriftserver")) {
+            continue;
+          }
           addToClassPath(cp, String.format("%s/%s/target/scala-%s/classes", sparkHome, project,
             scala));
         }
@@ -205,8 +228,6 @@ List<String> buildClassPath(String appClassPath) throws IOException {
     // Add Spark jars to the classpath. For the testing case, we rely on the test code to set and
     // propagate the test classpath appropriately. For normal invocation, look for the jars
     // directory under SPARK_HOME.
-    boolean isTestingSql = "1".equals(getenv("SPARK_SQL_TESTING"));
-    String jarsDir = findJarsDir(getSparkHome(), getScalaVersion(), !isTesting && !isTestingSql);
     if (jarsDir != null) {
       // Place slf4j-api-* jar first to be robust
       for (File f: new File(jarsDir).listFiles()) {
@@ -265,6 +286,23 @@ private void addToClassPath(Set<String> cp, String entries) {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Checks if the spark-hive jar file is available in the specified directory.
+   *
+   * @param jarsDir the directory to search for spark-hive jar files
+   * @return true if a file starting with "spark-hive_" is found, false otherwise
+   */
+  private boolean isJarAvailable(String jarsDir, String jarNamePrefix) {
+    if (jarsDir != null) {
+      for (File f : new File(jarsDir).listFiles()) {
+        if (f.getName().startsWith(jarNamePrefix)) {
+          return true;
+        }
+      }
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
   String getScalaVersion() {
     String scala = getenv("SPARK_SCALA_VERSION");
     if (scala != null) {