diff --git a/frontends/windows/Makefile.defaults b/frontends/windows/Makefile.defaults
index 1d844f112..51e71accb 100644
--- a/frontends/windows/Makefile.defaults
+++ b/frontends/windows/Makefile.defaults
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 # ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # Where to search for NetSurf's resources after looking in ~/.netsurf and
-# $NETSURFRES.  It must have a trailing backslash
-NETSURF_WINDOWS_RESPATH :=
+# ${APPDATA}\NetSurf.  It must have a trailing backslash
+NETSURF_WINDOWS_RESPATH := $${NETSURFRES}
 
 # Enable NetSurf's use of librosprite for displaying RISC OS Sprites
 # Valid options: YES, NO, AUTO
diff --git a/frontends/windows/main.c b/frontends/windows/main.c
index 54e0249a8..d71bb8756 100644
--- a/frontends/windows/main.c
+++ b/frontends/windows/main.c
@@ -375,6 +375,9 @@ WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hLastInstance, LPSTR lpcli, int ncmd)
 	 */
 	nslog_init(nslog_ensure, &argc, argv);
 
+	/* build resource path string vector */
+	respaths = nsws_init_resource("${APPDATA}\\NetSurf:${PROGRAMFILES}\\NetSurf\\NetSurf\\:"NETSURF_WINDOWS_RESPATH);
+
 	/* Locate the correct user configuration directory path */
 	ret = get_config_home(&nsw32_config_home);
 	if (ret != NSERROR_OK) {
@@ -391,8 +394,6 @@ WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hLastInstance, LPSTR lpcli, int ncmd)
 		return 1;
 	}
 
-	respaths = nsws_init_resource("${APPDATA}\\NetSurf:${HOME}\\.netsurf:${NETSURFRES}:${PROGRAMFILES}\\NetSurf\\NetSurf\\:"NETSURF_WINDOWS_RESPATH);
-
 	/* Initialise translated messages */
 	ret = nsw32_messages_init(respaths);
 	if (ret != NSERROR_OK) {