diff --git a/samples/tapi/clahe.cpp b/samples/tapi/clahe.cpp
index 0b7de45a60..ebef65f4e4 100644
--- a/samples/tapi/clahe.cpp
+++ b/samples/tapi/clahe.cpp
@@ -63,8 +63,9 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
     setTrackbarPos("Tile Size", "CLAHE", cur_tilesize.width);
     setTrackbarPos("Clip Limit", "CLAHE", cur_clip);
 
-    if(infile != "")
+    if(!infile.empty())
     {
+        infile = samples::findFile(infile);
         imread(infile).copyTo(frame);
         if(frame.empty())
         {
@@ -87,7 +88,10 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
         else
             imread(infile).copyTo(frame);
         if(frame.empty())
-            continue;
+        {
+            waitKey();
+            break;
+        }
 
         cvtColor(frame, frame, COLOR_BGR2GRAY);
         pFilter->apply(frame, outframe);
diff --git a/samples/tapi/hog.cpp b/samples/tapi/hog.cpp
index 4753c19312..eee200588c 100644
--- a/samples/tapi/hog.cpp
+++ b/samples/tapi/hog.cpp
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
         "{ h help      |                | print help message }"
         "{ i input     |                | specify input image}"
         "{ c camera    | -1             | enable camera capturing }"
-        "{ v video     | ../data/vtest.avi | use video as input }"
+        "{ v video     | vtest.avi | use video as input }"
         "{ g gray      |                | convert image to gray one or not}"
         "{ s scale     | 1.0            | resize the image before detect}"
         "{ o output    |                | specify output path when input is images}";
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ App::App(CommandLineParser& cmd)
 
     make_gray = cmd.has("gray");
     resize_scale = cmd.get<double>("s");
-    vdo_source = cmd.get<string>("v");
+    vdo_source = samples::findFileOrKeep(cmd.get<string>("v"));
     img_source = cmd.get<string>("i");
     output = cmd.get<string>("o");
     camera_id = cmd.get<int>("c");
diff --git a/samples/tapi/opencl_custom_kernel.cpp b/samples/tapi/opencl_custom_kernel.cpp
index 2395061a9a..c4e893a8a8 100644
--- a/samples/tapi/opencl_custom_kernel.cpp
+++ b/samples/tapi/opencl_custom_kernel.cpp
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
         string image_file = args.get<string>("i");
         if (!image_file.empty())
         {
-            Mat image = imread(image_file);
+            Mat image = imread(samples::findFile(image_file));
             if (image.empty())
             {
                 cout << "error read image: " << image_file << endl;
diff --git a/samples/tapi/pyrlk_optical_flow.cpp b/samples/tapi/pyrlk_optical_flow.cpp
index bb426cbf76..9c1364d180 100644
--- a/samples/tapi/pyrlk_optical_flow.cpp
+++ b/samples/tapi/pyrlk_optical_flow.cpp
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ int main(int argc, const char* argv[])
     }
 
     bool defaultPicturesFail = true;
-    string fname0 = cmd.get<string>("left");
-    string fname1 = cmd.get<string>("right");
+    string fname0 = samples::findFile(cmd.get<string>("left"));
+    string fname1 = samples::findFile(cmd.get<string>("right"));
     string vdofile = cmd.get<string>("video");
     string outfile = cmd.get<string>("output");
     int points = cmd.get<int>("points");
@@ -105,9 +105,9 @@ int main(int argc, const char* argv[])
     int inputName = cmd.get<int>("c");
 
     UMat frame0;
-    imread(fname0, cv::IMREAD_GRAYSCALE).copyTo(frame0);
+    imread(fname0, IMREAD_GRAYSCALE).copyTo(frame0);
     UMat frame1;
-    imread(fname1, cv::IMREAD_GRAYSCALE).copyTo(frame1);
+    imread(fname1, IMREAD_GRAYSCALE).copyTo(frame1);
 
     vector<cv::Point2f> pts(points);
     vector<cv::Point2f> nextPts(points);
diff --git a/samples/tapi/squares.cpp b/samples/tapi/squares.cpp
index 42a40c3f6f..4cdce2251b 100644
--- a/samples/tapi/squares.cpp
+++ b/samples/tapi/squares.cpp
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
         cout << "OpenCL was disabled" << endl;
     }
 
-    string inputName = cmd.get<string>("i");
+    string inputName = samples::findFile(cmd.get<string>("i"));
     string outfile = cmd.get<string>("o");
 
     int iterations = 10;
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv)
     vector<vector<Point> > squares;
 
     UMat image;
-    imread(inputName, 1).copyTo(image);
+    imread(inputName, IMREAD_COLOR).copyTo(image);
     if( image.empty() )
     {
         cout << "Couldn't load " << inputName << endl;
diff --git a/samples/tapi/ufacedetect.cpp b/samples/tapi/ufacedetect.cpp
index 3eeddb94b1..0a6d91c3d6 100644
--- a/samples/tapi/ufacedetect.cpp
+++ b/samples/tapi/ufacedetect.cpp
@@ -28,9 +28,6 @@ void detectAndDraw( UMat& img, Mat& canvas, CascadeClassifier& cascade,
                     CascadeClassifier& nestedCascade,
                     double scale, bool tryflip );
 
-string cascadeName = "../../data/haarcascades/haarcascade_frontalface_alt.xml";
-string nestedCascadeName = "../../data/haarcascades/haarcascade_eye_tree_eyeglasses.xml";
-
 int main( int argc, const char** argv )
 {
     VideoCapture capture;
@@ -44,8 +41,8 @@ int main( int argc, const char** argv )
     double scale;
 
     cv::CommandLineParser parser(argc, argv,
-        "{cascade|../../data/haarcascades/haarcascade_frontalface_alt.xml|}"
-        "{nested-cascade|../../data/haarcascades/haarcascade_eye_tree_eyeglasses.xml|}"
+        "{cascade|data/haarcascades/haarcascade_frontalface_alt.xml|}"
+        "{nested-cascade|data/haarcascades/haarcascade_eye_tree_eyeglasses.xml|}"
         "{help h ||}{scale|1|}{try-flip||}{@filename||}"
     );
     if (parser.has("help"))
@@ -53,8 +50,8 @@ int main( int argc, const char** argv )
         help();
         return 0;
     }
-    cascadeName = parser.get<string>("cascade");
-    nestedCascadeName = parser.get<string>("nested-cascade");
+    string cascadeName = samples::findFile(parser.get<string>("cascade"));
+    string nestedCascadeName = samples::findFileOrKeep(parser.get<string>("nested-cascade"));
     scale = parser.get<double>("scale");
     tryflip = parser.has("try-flip");
     inputName = parser.get<string>("@filename");
@@ -66,10 +63,10 @@ int main( int argc, const char** argv )
     }
 
     if ( !nestedCascade.load( nestedCascadeName ) )
-        cerr << "WARNING: Could not load classifier cascade for nested objects" << endl;
+        cerr << "WARNING: Could not load classifier cascade for nested objects: " << nestedCascadeName << endl;
     if( !cascade.load( cascadeName ) )
     {
-        cerr << "ERROR: Could not load classifier cascade" << endl;
+        cerr << "ERROR: Could not load classifier cascade: " << cascadeName << endl;
         help();
         return -1;
     }
@@ -84,9 +81,8 @@ int main( int argc, const char** argv )
     }
     else
     {
-        if( inputName.empty() )
-            inputName = "../data/lena.jpg";
-        image = imread( inputName, 1 ).getUMat(ACCESS_READ);
+        inputName = samples::findFileOrKeep(inputName);
+        imread(inputName, IMREAD_COLOR).copyTo(image);
         if( image.empty() )
         {
             if(!capture.open( inputName ))
@@ -133,7 +129,7 @@ int main( int argc, const char** argv )
                         len--;
                     buf[len] = '\0';
                     cout << "file " << buf << endl;
-                    image = imread( buf, 1 ).getUMat(ACCESS_READ);
+                    imread(samples::findFile(buf), IMREAD_COLOR).copyTo(image);
                     if( !image.empty() )
                     {
                         detectAndDraw( image, canvas, cascade, nestedCascade, scale, tryflip );