diff --git a/applications/fetcher/Browser.okm b/applications/fetcher/Browser.okm
index d22bbca..4d76cba 100644
--- a/applications/fetcher/Browser.okm
+++ b/applications/fetcher/Browser.okm
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ MODULE Browser;
     EXTERN browserMenuItemsRoot: POINTER TO CHAR;
     EXTERN browserFileListFriendly: ARRAY 12 OF POINTER TO CHAR;
 
-    PROCEDURE BrowserMain(diskId, iconX, iconY: INT; desktopWin: PTR;);
+    PROCEDURE BrowserMain(diskId, iconX, iconY: INT; desktopWin: PTR; hasIcons: CHAR; iconsResPtr: PTR;);
+    VAR tempDskIconResPtr: PTR;
     BEGIN
         (* first, before we do anything, check to make sure the selected disk is available *)
         IF diskId >| 4 THEN
@@ -36,6 +37,15 @@ MODULE Browser;
         browserPage := 0;
         browserDiskId := diskId;
 
+        (* if icons.res was loaded, then pull the `dsk` resource from it *)
+        IF hasIcons THEN
+            tempDskIconResPtr := get_resource(iconsResPtr, "dsk", 4096);
+            IF tempDskIconResPtr THEN
+                copy_memory_bytes(tempDskIconResPtr, PTROF(desktopDiskIcon), 4096);
+                free_memory(tempDskIconResPtr);
+            END;
+        END;
+
         (* create the window and draw its initial contents *)
         new_window(PTROF(browserWindow), "Fetcher", 384, 192, 64, 64, PTROF(browserMenuItemsRoot), PTROF(browserIcons));
         DrawBrowserWindow();
diff --git a/applications/fetcher/Desktop.okm b/applications/fetcher/Desktop.okm
index 50fc832..08dca45 100644
--- a/applications/fetcher/Desktop.okm
+++ b/applications/fetcher/Desktop.okm
@@ -4,13 +4,22 @@ MODULE Desktop;
     VAR desktopRunning: CHAR;
         desktopWindow: ARRAY WINDOW_STRUCT_SIZE OF CHAR;
         desktopIcons: ARRAY 5 OF Fox32OSButtonWidget;
+        desktopDiskIcon: ARRAY 4096 OF CHAR;
 
-    EXTERN diskIcon: ARRAY 1024 OF INT;
-
-    PROCEDURE DesktopMain();
+    PROCEDURE DesktopMain(hasIcons: CHAR; iconsResPtr: PTR;);
+    VAR tempDskIconResPtr: PTR;
     BEGIN
         desktopRunning := 1;
 
+        (* if icons.res was loaded, then pull the `dsk` resource from it *)
+        IF hasIcons THEN
+            tempDskIconResPtr := get_resource(iconsResPtr, "dsk", 4096);
+            IF tempDskIconResPtr THEN
+                copy_memory_bytes(tempDskIconResPtr, PTROF(desktopDiskIcon), 4096);
+                free_memory(tempDskIconResPtr);
+            END;
+        END;
+
         (* set up the desktop icon widgets *)
         SetupDesktopIconStructs();
 
@@ -72,7 +81,7 @@ MODULE Desktop;
         draw_widgets_to_window(desktopWin);
 
         (* set the tilemap and draw the icons! *)
-        set_tilemap(PTROF(diskIcon), 32, 32);
+        set_tilemap(PTROF(desktopDiskIcon), 32, 32);
         overlay := get_window_overlay_number(desktopWin);
         i := 5;
         y := 16;
diff --git a/applications/fetcher/Fetcher.okm b/applications/fetcher/Fetcher.okm
index a1b1d3a..fdbf884 100644
--- a/applications/fetcher/Fetcher.okm
+++ b/applications/fetcher/Fetcher.okm
@@ -7,17 +7,35 @@ MODULE Fetcher;
     EXTERN arg2Ptr: POINTER TO CHAR;
     EXTERN arg3Ptr: POINTER TO CHAR;
 
+    VAR iconsResFile: ARRAY FILE_STRUCT_SIZE OF CHAR;
+        iconsRes: POINTER TO CHAR;
+        iconsResSize: INT;
+        hasIcons: CHAR;
+
     PROCEDURE Main();
     BEGIN
+        (* open icons.res from the boot disk and read its contents into `iconsRes` *)
+        hasIcons := 0;
+        IF open("icons.res", get_boot_disk_id(), PTROF(iconsResFile)) THEN
+            iconsResSize := get_size(PTROF(iconsResFile));
+            iconsRes := allocate_memory(iconsResSize);
+            read(iconsResSize, PTROF(iconsResFile), iconsRes);
+            hasIcons := 1;
+        END;
+
         IF (terminalStreamPtr = 0) & (arg0Ptr = 0) THEN
             (* probably launched from startup.cfg *)
-            DesktopMain();
+            DesktopMain(hasIcons, iconsRes);
         ELSIF arg0Ptr <|= 5 THEN
             (* launched from an existing instance of fetcher *)
-            BrowserMain(arg0Ptr, arg1Ptr, arg2Ptr, arg3Ptr);
+            BrowserMain(arg0Ptr, arg1Ptr, arg2Ptr, arg3Ptr, hasIcons, iconsRes);
         ELSE
             (* probably launched from the terminal *)
-            BrowserMain(string_to_int(arg0Ptr, 10), 0, 0, 0);
+            BrowserMain(string_to_int(arg0Ptr, 10), 0, 0, 0, hasIcons, iconsRes);
+        END;
+
+        IF hasIcons THEN
+            free_memory(iconsRes);
         END;
     END;
 END.
diff --git a/applications/fetcher/OS.okm b/applications/fetcher/OS.okm
index 63b9b9c..0539818 100644
--- a/applications/fetcher/OS.okm
+++ b/applications/fetcher/OS.okm
@@ -2,13 +2,15 @@
 
 MODULE OS;
     CONST WINDOW_STRUCT_SIZE = 36;
+    CONST FILE_STRUCT_SIZE = 32;
 
     EXTERN PROCEDURE new_window, destroy_window, draw_str_to_overlay, get_window_overlay_number,
         draw_widgets_to_window, draw_filled_rectangle_to_overlay, GetNextWindowEvent, DrawPixel,
         save_state_and_yield_task, start_dragging_window, handle_widget_click, fill_window, fill_overlay,
         set_window_flags, menu_update_event, menu_bar_click_event, close_menu, new_messagebox,
         launch_fxf_from_disk, get_boot_disk_id, string_to_int, set_tilemap, draw_tile_to_overlay,
-        ryfs_get_file_list, copy_memory_bytes, IsRomDiskAvailable, end_current_task, sleep_task: INT;
+        ryfs_get_file_list, copy_memory_bytes, IsRomDiskAvailable, end_current_task, sleep_task,
+        open, read, get_size, get_boot_disk_id, get_resource, allocate_memory, free_memory: INT;
 
     EXTERN PROCEDURE brk: INT;
 
diff --git a/applications/fetcher/icons/.gitignore b/applications/fetcher/icons/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 2a06e93..0000000
--- a/applications/fetcher/icons/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-*.inc
diff --git a/applications/fetcher/icons/disk.png b/applications/fetcher/icons/disk.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 7c3bee0..0000000
Binary files a/applications/fetcher/icons/disk.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/applications/fetcher/start.asm b/applications/fetcher/start.asm
index 1b61059..c4fc1e7 100644
--- a/applications/fetcher/start.asm
+++ b/applications/fetcher/start.asm
@@ -82,8 +82,5 @@ menu_items_system_list:
     data.8 7                   ; menu width (usually longest item + 2)
     data.8 5 data.strz "About" ; text length, text, null-terminator
 
-diskIcon:
-    #include "icons/disk.inc"
-
     #include "../../../fox32rom/fox32rom.def"
     #include "../../fox32os.def"