diff --git a/cmake/macros/GenerateQrc.cmake b/cmake/macros/GenerateQrc.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0283b3ea9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/macros/GenerateQrc.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+
+function(GENERATE_QRC)
+  set(oneValueArgs OUTPUT PREFIX PATH)
+  set(multiValueArgs GLOBS)
+  cmake_parse_arguments(GENERATE_QRC "${options}" "${oneValueArgs}" "${multiValueArgs}" ${ARGN} )
+  if ("${GENERATE_QRC_PREFIX}" STREQUAL "")
+    set(QRC_PREFIX_PATH /)
+  else()
+    set(QRC_PREFIX_PATH ${GENERATE_QRC_PREFIX})
+  endif()
+  
+  foreach(GLOB ${GENERATE_QRC_GLOBS})
+    file(GLOB_RECURSE FOUND_FILES RELATIVE ${GENERATE_QRC_PATH} ${GLOB})
+    foreach(FILENAME ${FOUND_FILES})
+      set(QRC_CONTENTS "${QRC_CONTENTS}<file alias=\"${FILENAME}\">${GENERATE_QRC_PATH}/${FILENAME}</file>\n")
+    endforeach() 
+  endforeach()
+  
+  configure_file("${HF_CMAKE_DIR}/templates/resources.qrc.in" ${GENERATE_QRC_OUTPUT})
+endfunction()
diff --git a/cmake/templates/resources.qrc.in b/cmake/templates/resources.qrc.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6466b9ec51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/templates/resources.qrc.in
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+<!DOCTYPE RCC><RCC version="1.0">
+<qresource prefix="@QRC_PREFIX_PATH@">
+@QRC_CONTENTS@
+</qresource>
+</RCC>
diff --git a/interface/CMakeLists.txt b/interface/CMakeLists.txt
index b16ad58431..08af8601c5 100644
--- a/interface/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/interface/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
 set(TARGET_NAME interface)
 project(${TARGET_NAME})
 
+file(GLOB_RECURSE QML_SRC resources/qml/*.qml resources/qml/*.js)
+add_custom_target(qml SOURCES ${QML_SRC})
+GroupSources("resources/qml")
+
+function(JOIN VALUES GLUE OUTPUT)
+  string (REGEX REPLACE "([^\\]|^);" "\\1${GLUE}" _TMP_STR "${VALUES}")
+  string (REGEX REPLACE "[\\](.)" "\\1" _TMP_STR "${_TMP_STR}") #fixes escaping
+  set (${OUTPUT} "${_TMP_STR}" PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
+
+set(INTERFACE_QML_QRC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/qml.qrc)
+generate_qrc(OUTPUT ${INTERFACE_QML_QRC} PATH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/resources GLOBS *.qml *.qss *.js *.html *.ttf *.gif *.svg *.png *.jpg)      
+
 # set a default root dir for each of our optional externals if it was not passed
 set(OPTIONAL_EXTERNALS "LeapMotion")
 
@@ -66,9 +80,7 @@ qt5_wrap_ui(QT_UI_HEADERS "${QT_UI_FILES}")
 # add them to the interface source files
 set(INTERFACE_SRCS ${INTERFACE_SRCS} "${QT_UI_HEADERS}" "${QT_RESOURCES}")
 
-file(GLOB_RECURSE QML_SRC resources/qml/*.qml resources/qml/*.js)
-add_custom_target(qml SOURCES ${QML_SRC})
-GroupSources("resources/qml")
+list(APPEND INTERFACE_SRCS ${INTERFACE_QML_QRC})
 
 if (UNIX)
   install(
@@ -131,10 +143,10 @@ if (APPLE)
 
   # append the discovered resources to our list of interface sources
   list(APPEND INTERFACE_SRCS ${DISCOVERED_RESOURCES})
-
-  set(INTERFACE_SRCS ${INTERFACE_SRCS} "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/icon/${INTERFACE_ICON_FILENAME}")
+  list(APPEND INTERFACE_SRCS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/icon/${INTERFACE_ICON_FILENAME})
 endif()
 
+
 # create the executable, make it a bundle on OS X
 if (APPLE)
   add_executable(${TARGET_NAME} MACOSX_BUNDLE ${INTERFACE_SRCS} ${QM})
diff --git a/interface/src/Application.cpp b/interface/src/Application.cpp
index e5d5e696a1..d41f9d1369 100644
--- a/interface/src/Application.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/Application.cpp
@@ -2246,7 +2246,7 @@ void Application::initializeUi() {
     offscreenUi->setBaseUrl(QUrl::fromLocalFile(PathUtils::resourcesPath() + "/qml/"));
     // OffscreenUi is a subclass of OffscreenQmlSurface specifically designed to
     // support the window management and scripting proxies for VR use
-    offscreenUi->createDesktop(QString("hifi/Desktop.qml"));
+    offscreenUi->createDesktop(QString("qrc:///qml/hifi/Desktop.qml"));
 
     // FIXME either expose so that dialogs can set this themselves or
     // do better detection in the offscreen UI of what has focus