diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
index c4329cd77550..6398a15bfcc8 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome3.nix
@@ -114,6 +114,9 @@ in {
           # Let nautilus find extensions
           export NAUTILUS_EXTENSION_DIR=${config.system.path}/lib/nautilus/extensions-3.0/
 
+          # Find the mouse
+          export XCURSOR_PATH=~/.icons:${config.system.path}/share/icons
+
           # Update user dirs as described in http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/xdg-user-dirs/
           ${pkgs.xdg-user-dirs}/bin/xdg-user-dirs-update
 
diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/gdm.nix b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/gdm.nix
index 080588df2472..b3da0cda04a3 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/gdm.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/x11/display-managers/gdm.nix
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ in
           GDM_X_SERVER = "${cfg.xserverBin} ${cfg.xserverArgs}";
           GDM_SESSIONS_DIR = "${cfg.session.desktops}";
           XDG_CONFIG_DIRS = "${gnome3.gnome_settings_daemon}/etc/xdg";
+          # Find the mouse
+          XCURSOR_PATH = "~/.icons:${config.system.path}/share/icons";
         };
         execCmd = "exec ${gdm}/sbin/gdm";
       };
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/default.nix
index 965a8a05f16f..46e300383647 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/default.nix
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   '';
 
   # Disable Access Control because our X does not support FamilyServerInterpreted yet
-  patches = [ ./xserver_path.patch ./sessions_dir.patch ./disable_x_access_control.patch ./propagate_xdgconfigdirs.patch ];
+  patches = [ ./xserver_path.patch ./sessions_dir.patch ./disable_x_access_control.patch ./propagate_env.patch ];
 
   meta = with stdenv.lib; {
     homepage = https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/GDM;
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/propagate_env.patch b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/propagate_env.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b3e356a65c3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/propagate_env.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+--- a/daemon/gdm-launch-environment.c	2014-11-24 15:43:55.532879804 +0100
++++ a/daemon/gdm-launch-environment.c	2014-11-28 18:22:42.636313967 +0100
+@@ -220,8 +220,8 @@ 
+                 "LANG", "LANGUAGE", "LC_CTYPE", "LC_NUMERIC", "LC_TIME",
+                 "LC_COLLATE", "LC_MONETARY", "LC_MESSAGES", "LC_PAPER",
+                 "LC_NAME", "LC_ADDRESS", "LC_TELEPHONE", "LC_MEASUREMENT",
+-                "LC_IDENTIFICATION", "LC_ALL", "WINDOWPATH",
+-                NULL
++                "LC_IDENTIFICATION", "LC_ALL", "WINDOWPATH", "XCURSOR_PATH",
++                "XDG_CONFIG_DIRS", NULL
+         };
+         char *system_data_dirs;
+         int i;
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/propagate_xdgconfigdirs.patch b/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/propagate_xdgconfigdirs.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 20d7659c1e52..000000000000
--- a/pkgs/desktops/gnome-3/3.12/core/gdm/propagate_xdgconfigdirs.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
---- a/daemon/gdm-launch-environment.c	2014-08-03 12:05:39.380178964 +0200
-+++ b/daemon/gdm-launch-environment.c	2014-08-03 12:08:26.570182517 +0200
-@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@
-                 NULL
-         };
-         char *system_data_dirs;
-+        char *system_config_dirs;
-         int i;
- 
-         load_lang_config_file (LANG_CONFIG_FILE,
-@@ -251,6 +252,15 @@
-                                               system_data_dirs));
-         g_free (system_data_dirs);
- 
-+        system_config_dirs = g_strjoinv (":", (char **) g_get_system_config_dirs ());
-+
-+        g_hash_table_insert (hash,
-+                             g_strdup ("XDG_CONFIG_DIRS"),
-+                             g_strdup_printf ("%s",
-+                                              system_config_dirs));
-+        g_free (system_config_dirs);
-+
-+
-         g_hash_table_insert (hash, g_strdup ("XAUTHORITY"), g_strdup (launch_environment->priv->x11_authority_file));
- 
-         g_hash_table_insert (hash, g_strdup ("LOGNAME"), g_strdup (launch_environment->priv->user_name));