diff --git a/desktop.sh b/desktop.sh
index 5c277bb..b77700a 100644
--- a/desktop.sh
+++ b/desktop.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+# The default for XDG and xfce4 is for Desktop files to be in ~/Desktop but this leads to a variety of problems
+# First we are altering the user directiory which seems rude, second orphan desktop files might be in ~/Desktop so who knows
+# what the user Desktop experience with be, here the Desktop dir is set to /usr/share/Desktop so is part of the image.
+# users that really want to customize Desktop can change ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs. Though py-rocket-base might not respect that.
 set -e
 
 # set the Desktop dir to something in base
@@ -8,6 +12,8 @@ echo 'XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="/usr/share/Desktop"' > /etc/xdg/user-dirs.defaults
 APPLICATIONS_DIR=/usr/share/applications
 DESKTOP_DIR=/usr/share/Desktop
 mkdir -p "${DESKTOP_DIR}"
+chown :staff /usr/share/Desktop
+chmod 775 /usr/share/Desktop
 # set the Desktop dir default for XDG
 echo 'XDG_DESKTOP_DIR="${DESKTOP_DIR}"' > /etc/xdg/user-dirs.defaults
 
@@ -34,3 +40,14 @@ for mime_file_path in ${REPO_DIR}/Desktop/*.xml; do
 done
 update-mime-database "${MIME_DIR}"
 
+# Add icons
+ICON_DIR="/usr/share/icons"
+ICON_PACKAGES_DIR="${ICON_DIR}/packages"
+mkdir -p "${ICON_PACKAGES_DIR}"
+for icon_file_path in "${REPO_DIR}"/Desktop/*.png; do
+    cp "${icon_file_path}" "${ICON_PACKAGES_DIR}/" || echo "Failed to copy ${icon_file_path}"
+done
+for icon_file_path in "${REPO_DIR}"/Desktop/*.svg; do
+    cp "${icon_file_path}" "${ICON_PACKAGES_DIR}/" || echo "Failed to copy ${icon_file_path}"
+donegtk-update-icon-cache "${ICON_DIR}"
+
diff --git a/start b/start
index 11ba4ee..cafc24b 100644
--- a/start
+++ b/start
@@ -9,41 +9,6 @@ set -euo pipefail
 source ${REPO_DIR}/env.txt
 # End - Set any environment variables here
 
-# The for loops will fail if they return null (no files). Set shell option nullglob
-shopt -s nullglob
-
-# Add any .desktop files to the application database and desktop. This is done
-# at startup-time because it's expected that a remote filesystem will be
-# mounted at $HOME, which would overwrite the data if it was created at
-# build-time.
-APPLICATIONS_DIR="${HOME}/.local/share/applications"
-DESKTOP_DIR="${HOME}/Desktop"
-# Remove DESKTOP_DIR if it exists to avoid leftover files
-if [ -d "${DESKTOP_DIR}" ]; then
-    rm -rf "${DESKTOP_DIR}"
-fi
-mkdir -p "${APPLICATIONS_DIR}"
-mkdir -p "${DESKTOP_DIR}"
-for desktop_file_path in ${REPO_DIR}/Desktop/*.desktop; do
-    cp "${desktop_file_path}" "${APPLICATIONS_DIR}/."
-
-    # Symlink application to desktop and set execute permission so xfce (desktop) doesn't complain
-    desktop_file_name="$(basename ${desktop_file_path})"
-    # Set execute permissions on the copied .desktop file
-    chmod +x "${APPLICATIONS_DIR}/${desktop_file_name}"
-    ln -sf "${APPLICATIONS_DIR}/${desktop_file_name}" "${DESKTOP_DIR}/${desktop_file_name}"
-done
-update-desktop-database "${APPLICATIONS_DIR}"
-
-# Add MIME Type data from XML files  to the MIME database.
-MIME_DIR="${HOME}/.local/share/mime"
-MIME_PACKAGES_DIR="${MIME_DIR}/packages"
-mkdir -p "${MIME_PACKAGES_DIR}"
-for mime_file_path in ${REPO_DIR}/Desktop/*.xml; do
-    cp "${mime_file_path}" "${MIME_PACKAGES_DIR}/."
-done
-update-mime-database "${MIME_DIR}"
-
 # Run child start in a subshell to contain its environment
 [ -f ${REPO_DIR}/childimage/start ] && ( source ${REPO_DIR}/childimage/start )