diff --git a/src/helios/trainer.py b/src/helios/trainer.py
index b01a696..edc70d8 100644
--- a/src/helios/trainer.py
+++ b/src/helios/trainer.py
@@ -218,6 +218,8 @@ def __init__(
         chkpt_root: pathlib.Path | None = None,
         log_path: pathlib.Path | None = None,
         run_path: pathlib.Path | None = None,
+        src_root: pathlib.Path | None = None,
+        import_prefix: str = "",
     ):
         """Create the trainer."""
         self._model: hlm.Model | None = None
@@ -255,6 +257,9 @@ def __init__(
         self._log_path = log_path
         self._run_path = run_path
 
+        self._src_root = src_root
+        self._import_prefix = import_prefix
+
         self._run_name = run_name
 
         self._validate_flags()
@@ -499,7 +504,10 @@ def _configure_env(self) -> None:
         """
         Configure the training environment.
 
-        This will seed the RNGs as well as setup any CUDA state (if using).
+        This will seed the RNGs as well as setup any CUDA state (if using). It will also
+        set all of the registries provided the source root is not None. This is to prevent
+        the registries from being empty if distributed training is launched through spawn
+        (note that torchrun doesn't have this problem).
         """
         rng.seed_rngs(self._random_seed)
         torch.use_deterministic_algorithms(self._enable_deterministic)
@@ -512,6 +520,11 @@ def _configure_env(self) -> None:
 
         logging.create_default_loggers(self._enable_tensorboard)
 
+        if self._src_root is not None:
+            core.update_all_registries(
+                self._src_root, recurse=True, import_prefix=self._import_prefix
+            )
+
     def _setup_datamodule(self) -> None:
         """Finish setting up the datamodule."""
         self.datamodule.is_distributed = self._is_distributed
@@ -619,6 +632,9 @@ def _validate_flags(self):
             if self._log_path.exists() and not self._log_path.is_dir():
                 raise ValueError("error: log path must be a directory")
 
+        if self._src_root is not None and not self._src_root.is_dir():
+            raise ValueError("error: source root must be a directory")
+
     def _setup_device_flags(self, use_cpu: bool | None):
         """
         Configure the device state.