diff --git a/scripts/install.ps1 b/scripts/install.ps1
index 3bcab87f893..22a6607e9b0 100644
--- a/scripts/install.ps1
+++ b/scripts/install.ps1
@@ -1844,6 +1844,87 @@ function Install-NodeDeps {
     }
 }
 
+function Initialize-ElectronBuilderCache {
+    # Pre-warm electron-builder's winCodeSign cache so its own extraction
+    # of the .7z archive never runs.
+    #
+    # Why this exists: even when no signing cert is configured (we set
+    # CSC_IDENTITY_AUTO_DISCOVERY=false below), electron-builder still
+    # invokes signtool on node-pty's bundled prebuilt binaries
+    # (winpty-agent.exe, OpenConsole.exe) because they live under
+    # asarUnpack: ['**/*.node', '**/prebuilds/**'] in apps/desktop's
+    # package.json. signtool ships inside winCodeSign-2.6.0.7z, so
+    # electron-builder fetches and extracts the archive.
+    #
+    # The archive contains macOS symbolic links under darwin/10.12/lib/
+    # (libcrypto.dylib + libssl.dylib pointing at versioned siblings).
+    # Creating symlinks on Windows requires SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege,
+    # which non-admin accounts on stock Windows don't have. Result:
+    # 7-Zip exit 2 on every grandma-class box, four retries, then the
+    # whole build fails.
+    #
+    # The fix: do the extraction ourselves with -snl (don't preserve
+    # symlinks — store as resolved file content) AND -x!darwin (skip
+    # the macOS subtree entirely — we're building for Windows). With
+    # the cache directory populated, electron-builder's "is the cache
+    # present?" check passes and it never runs its own extraction.
+    #
+    # Idempotent: fast-path returns if winCodeSign-2.6.0/windows-10/x64/
+    # signtool.exe already exists. Tooling: uses 7za.exe from the
+    # 7zip-bin npm dep (which electron-builder itself depends on, so
+    # it's present after the workspace npm install completed).
+
+    $cacheRoot = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\electron-builder\Cache\winCodeSign"
+    $extractedDir = "$cacheRoot\winCodeSign-2.6.0"
+    $sentinel = "$extractedDir\windows-10\x64\signtool.exe"
+
+    if (Test-Path $sentinel) {
+        Write-Info "electron-builder winCodeSign cache already populated"
+        return
+    }
+
+    $sevenZip = "$InstallDir\node_modules\7zip-bin\win\x64\7za.exe"
+    if (-not (Test-Path $sevenZip)) {
+        $sevenZip = "$InstallDir\apps\desktop\node_modules\7zip-bin\win\x64\7za.exe"
+    }
+    if (-not (Test-Path $sevenZip)) {
+        Write-Warn "7za.exe not found in node_modules; electron-builder may fail to extract winCodeSign"
+        return
+    }
+
+    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $cacheRoot | Out-Null
+
+    $tmpArchive = "$env:TEMP\hermes-wincodesign-$(Get-Random).7z"
+    $url = "https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder-binaries/releases/download/winCodeSign-2.6.0/winCodeSign-2.6.0.7z"
+
+    Write-Info "Pre-extracting winCodeSign (skips electron-builder's broken-on-Windows extraction)..."
+    try {
+        Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $tmpArchive -UseBasicParsing -ErrorAction Stop
+    } catch {
+        Write-Warn "Failed to download winCodeSign: $_"
+        return
+    }
+
+    $prevEAP = $ErrorActionPreference
+    $ErrorActionPreference = "Continue"
+    & $sevenZip x -y -bd -snl "-x!darwin" "-o$cacheRoot" $tmpArchive 2>&1 | ForEach-Object { "$_" }
+    $code = $LASTEXITCODE
+    $ErrorActionPreference = $prevEAP
+
+    Remove-Item -Force $tmpArchive -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+
+    if ($code -ne 0) {
+        Write-Warn "Pre-extraction of winCodeSign failed (7-Zip exit $code)"
+        return
+    }
+
+    if (Test-Path $sentinel) {
+        Write-Success "winCodeSign cache pre-populated at $extractedDir"
+    } else {
+        Write-Warn "winCodeSign extraction completed but expected file is missing: $sentinel"
+    }
+}
+
 function Install-Desktop {
     # Build apps/desktop into a launchable Hermes.exe. Only called from
     # Stage-Desktop, which is itself only included in the manifest when
@@ -1928,6 +2009,17 @@ function Install-Desktop {
     }
     Pop-Location
 
+    # Pre-warm electron-builder's winCodeSign cache. MUST happen after the
+    # workspace npm install (we need 7za.exe from 7zip-bin) but BEFORE
+    # `npm run pack` (electron-builder pre-fetches signtool for re-signing
+    # node-pty's bundled prebuilds; if its own 7-Zip extraction runs first
+    # we hit the symlink-privilege crash). Belt-and-suspenders with the
+    # CSC_IDENTITY_AUTO_DISCOVERY env vars below: those kill cert
+    # discovery (so no signing actually happens to OUR Hermes.exe),
+    # while the pre-extract handles the toolchain fetch that still fires
+    # for the bundled-prebuild re-sign. Both are needed.
+    Initialize-ElectronBuilderCache
+
     # 2. Build apps/desktop. `npm run pack` runs:
     #      assert-root-install + write-build-stamp + stage-native-deps +
     #      tsc -b + vite build + electron-builder --dir