diff --git a/data/menu.xsd b/data/menu.xsd
index e3e1e17..50849ef 100644
--- a/data/menu.xsd
+++ b/data/menu.xsd
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
             </xs:element>
         </xs:sequence>
         <xs:attribute name="label" type="xs:string" use="required"/>
+        <xs:attribute name="icon" type="xs:string" use="optional"/>
     </xs:complexType>
     <!--
          simple types / restrictions
diff --git a/data/rc.xsd b/data/rc.xsd
index de227ea..eaed29f 100644
--- a/data/rc.xsd
+++ b/data/rc.xsd
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@
         <xsd:element minOccurs="0" name="submenuShowDelay" type="xsd:integer"/>
         <xsd:element minOccurs="0" name="applicationIcons" type="ob:bool"/>
         <xsd:element minOccurs="0" name="manageDesktops" type="ob:bool"/>
+        <xsd:element minOccurs="0" name="loadIcons" type="ob:bool"/>
     </xsd:complexType>
     <xsd:complexType name="window_position">
         <xsd:element name="x" type="ob:center_or_int"/>
diff --git a/openbox/config.c b/openbox/config.c
index 2ba4250..b03315d 100644
--- a/openbox/config.c
+++ b/openbox/config.c
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ gboolean config_menu_middle;
 guint    config_submenu_show_delay;
 gboolean config_menu_client_list_icons;
 gboolean config_menu_manage_desktops;
-gboolean config_menu_user_show_icons;
+gboolean config_menu_load_icons;
 
 GSList *config_menu_files;
 
@@ -801,11 +801,11 @@ static void parse_menu(ObParseInst *i, xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node,
         config_menu_client_list_icons = parse_bool(doc, n);
     if ((n = parse_find_node("manageDesktops", node)))
         config_menu_manage_desktops = parse_bool(doc, n);
-    if ((n = parse_find_node("showIcons", node))) {
-        config_menu_user_show_icons = parse_bool(doc, n);
+    if ((n = parse_find_node("loadIcons", node))) {
+        config_menu_load_icons = parse_bool(doc, n);
         #ifndef USE_IMLIB2
-        if (config_menu_user_show_icons)
-            g_message(_("Openbox was compiled without Imlib2."
+        if (config_menu_load_icons)
+            g_message(_("Openbox was compiled without Imlib2 library."
                       " Icons in user-defined menus will NOT be loaded."));
         #endif
     }
@@ -1009,7 +1009,7 @@ void config_startup(ObParseInst *i)
     config_menu_client_list_icons = TRUE;
     config_menu_manage_desktops = TRUE;
     config_menu_files = NULL;
-    config_menu_user_show_icons = TRUE;
+    config_menu_load_icons = TRUE;
 
     parse_register(i, "menu", parse_menu, NULL);
 
diff --git a/openbox/config.h b/openbox/config.h
index 82cf676..579c110 100644
--- a/openbox/config.h
+++ b/openbox/config.h
@@ -183,8 +183,8 @@ extern guint    config_submenu_show_delay;
 extern gboolean config_menu_client_list_icons;
 /*! Show manage desktops in client_list_menu */
 extern gboolean config_menu_manage_desktops;
-/*! Load & show icons in user-defined menus */
-extern gboolean config_menu_user_show_icons;
+/*! Load icons in user-defined menus */
+extern gboolean config_menu_load_icons;
 /*! User-specified menu files */
 extern GSList *config_menu_files;
 /*! Per app settings */
diff --git a/openbox/menu.c b/openbox/menu.c
index fc42abc..efdd552 100644
--- a/openbox/menu.c
+++ b/openbox/menu.c
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
 #include "client_list_combined_menu.h"
 #include "gettext.h"
 #include "parser/parse.h"
-#include "imageload.h"
 
 typedef struct _ObMenuParseState ObMenuParseState;
 
@@ -268,40 +267,27 @@ static void parse_menu_item(ObParseInst *i, xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node,
 {
     ObMenuParseState *state = data;
     gchar *label;
-    #ifdef USE_IMLIB2
-    gchar *icon;
-    #endif
     ObMenuEntry *e;
 
     if (state->parent) {
-        #ifdef USE_IMLIB2
-        /* Don't try to extract "icon" attribute if icons in user-defined
-	   menus are not enabled. */
-        if (!(config_menu_user_show_icons &&
-            parse_attr_string("icon", node, &icon)))
-               icon = NULL;
-        #endif
-
         if (parse_attr_string("label", node, &label)) {
             GSList *acts = NULL;
 
-            for (node = node->children; node; node = node->next)
-                if (!xmlStrcasecmp(node->name, (const xmlChar*) "action")) {
-                    ObActionsAct *a = actions_parse(i, doc, node);
+            xmlNodePtr it;
+            for (it = node->children; it; it = it->next)
+                if (!xmlStrcasecmp(it->name, (const xmlChar*) "action")) {
+                    ObActionsAct *a = actions_parse(i, doc, it);
                     if (a)
                         acts = g_slist_append(acts, a);
                 }
             e = menu_add_normal(state->parent, -1, label, acts, TRUE);
             
-            #ifdef USE_IMLIB2
-            if (icon) { /* Icon will be used. */
-                e->data.normal.icon = RrImageFetchFromFile(ob_rr_icons, icon);
-                if (e->data.normal.icon) {
+            if (parse_attr_string("icon", node,
+                &e->data.normal.icon_file_name))
+            {
                     e->data.normal.icon_alpha = 0xff;
-                }
-                g_free(icon);
             }
-            #endif
+
             g_free(label);
         }
     }
diff --git a/openbox/menu.h b/openbox/menu.h
index 7e11545..e611355 100644
--- a/openbox/menu.h
+++ b/openbox/menu.h
@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@ struct _ObNormalMenuEntry {
     GSList *actions;
 
     /* Icon stuff.  If you set this, make sure you RrImageRef() it too. */
+    /* If icon_file_name is set, icon will be loaded
+       (on-demand) from this file. */
+    gchar   *icon_file_name;
     RrImage *icon;
     gint     icon_alpha;
 
diff --git a/openbox/menuframe.c b/openbox/menuframe.c
index a9b5440..f858137 100644
--- a/openbox/menuframe.c
+++ b/openbox/menuframe.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include "mainloop.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "render/theme.h"
+#include "imageload.h"
 
 #define PADDING 2
 #define MAX_MENU_WIDTH 400
@@ -85,6 +86,23 @@ void menu_frame_shutdown(gboolean reconfig)
     g_hash_table_destroy(menu_frame_map);
 }
 
+#ifdef USE_IMLIB2
+/*! For each entry, load icon from specified file
+    (ObMenuEntryNormal.icon_file_name) only if there's already no icon. */
+static void menu_frame_load_icons(ObMenuFrame *self)
+{
+    GList *it;
+    for (it = self->menu->entries; it; it = g_list_next(it)) {
+        ObMenuEntry *e = it->data;
+        if (e->type == OB_MENU_ENTRY_TYPE_NORMAL) {
+            ObNormalMenuEntry *n = &e->data.normal;
+            if (n->icon_file_name && n->icon == NULL)
+                n->icon = RrImageFetchFromFile(ob_rr_icons, n->icon_file_name);
+        }
+    }
+}
+#endif
+
 ObMenuFrame* menu_frame_new(ObMenu *menu, guint show_from, ObClient *client)
 {
     ObMenuFrame *self;
@@ -98,6 +116,11 @@ ObMenuFrame* menu_frame_new(ObMenu *menu, guint show_from, ObClient *client)
     self->direction_right = TRUE;
     self->show_from = show_from;
 
+    #ifdef USE_IMLIB2
+    if (config_menu_load_icons)
+        menu_frame_load_icons(self);
+    #endif
+
     attr.event_mask = FRAME_EVENTMASK;
     self->window = createWindow(RootWindow(ob_display, ob_screen),
                                 CWEventMask, &attr);