diff --git a/src/lay/lay/layMacroController.cc b/src/lay/lay/layMacroController.cc
index 3fe6af4727..f05a8a573b 100644
--- a/src/lay/lay/layMacroController.cc
+++ b/src/lay/lay/layMacroController.cc
@@ -147,7 +147,10 @@ MacroController::finish ()
 
   if (! m_no_implicit_macros) {
     for (std::vector <ExternalPathDescriptor>::const_iterator p = m_external_paths.begin (); p != m_external_paths.end (); ++p) {
-      lym::MacroCollection::root ().add_folder (p->description, p->path, p->cat, p->readonly);
+      lym::MacroCollection *mc = lym::MacroCollection::root ().add_folder (p->description, p->path, p->cat, p->readonly);
+      if (mc) {
+        mc->set_virtual_mode (p->type);
+      }
     }
   }