diff --git a/doc/fixes36.2 b/doc/fixes36.2
index ce1523d0a..9f76fc3e8 100644
--- a/doc/fixes36.2
+++ b/doc/fixes36.2
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ windows-tty: Use nhraykey by default if the players keyboard layout is
 	non-english as reported in H4216
 windows-tty: We now support changing altkeyhandler in game
 windows: Added ntassert() mechanism for Windows based port use
+windows: heed OPTIONS=symset:default in config file if it is present 
 tty: significant optimizations for performance and per field rendering
 tty: use WC2_FLUSH_STATUS to buffer changes until BL_FLUSH is received
 tty: support BL_RESET in status_update to force an update to all status fields
diff --git a/src/options.c b/src/options.c
index b07c7b818..a283f4283 100644
--- a/src/options.c
+++ b/src/options.c
@@ -778,6 +778,15 @@ initoptions_init()
 #endif
 #endif /* UNIX || VMS */
 
+#if defined(MSDOS) || defined(WIN32)
+    /* Use IBM defaults. Can be overridden via config file */
+    if (!symset[PRIMARY].name) {
+        load_symset("IBMGraphics_2", PRIMARY);
+    }
+    if (!symset[ROGUESET].name) {
+        load_symset("RogueEpyx", ROGUESET);
+    }
+#endif
 #ifdef MAC_GRAPHICS_ENV
     if (!symset[PRIMARY].name)
         load_symset("MACGraphics", PRIMARY);
diff --git a/sys/share/pcmain.c b/sys/share/pcmain.c
index cfb7dbf8a..c55805b09 100644
--- a/sys/share/pcmain.c
+++ b/sys/share/pcmain.c
@@ -497,16 +497,6 @@ _CrtSetReportFile(_CRT_ASSERT, _CRTDBG_FILE_STDERR);*/
 #endif
 #endif
 
-#if defined(MSDOS) || defined(WIN32)
-    /* Player didn't specify any symbol set so use IBM defaults */
-    if (!symset[PRIMARY].name) {
-        load_symset("IBMGraphics_2", PRIMARY);
-    }
-    if (!symset[ROGUESET].name) {
-        load_symset("RogueEpyx", ROGUESET);
-    }
-#endif
-
 #if defined(MSDOS) || defined(WIN32)
     init_nhwindows(&argc, argv);
 #else