The <welcome-file> is supposed represent the file name of the file which is default to be loaded whenever a folder is been requested.
<welcome-file>index.xhtml</welcome-file>
If you're using JSF 2.x, then I suggest to replace /faces/* URL pattern by *.xhtml, then the above will work and you do not need to fiddle with /faces paths in URLs anymore. Or, if you're using JSF 1.x, then I suggest to replace the /faces/* URL pattern by *.jsf and provide an empty index.jsf file next to index.xhtml in the folder to fool the container that the file really exist.
