diff --git a/scripts/install.ps1 b/scripts/install.ps1
index bdee3ac5e1b..a596137a77e 100644
--- a/scripts/install.ps1
+++ b/scripts/install.ps1
@@ -1837,6 +1837,106 @@ function Install-NodeDeps {
     }
 }
 
+function Initialize-ElectronBuilderCache {
+    # Pre-warm electron-builder's winCodeSign cache so it never tries to
+    # extract the .7z archive itself.
+    #
+    # The bug we're working around: winCodeSign-2.6.0.7z contains macOS
+    # symbolic links under darwin/10.12/lib/ (libcrypto.dylib, libssl.dylib
+    # pointing at versioned siblings). On Windows, 7-Zip's extraction of
+    # those symlinks requires SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege — a per-user
+    # right that non-admin accounts on stock Windows don't have. So
+    # electron-builder fails the extraction every time it pulls a fresh
+    # cache, on every grandma-class box.
+    #
+    # The fix: do the extraction ourselves with `-x!darwin` to skip the
+    # entire macOS subtree. electron-builder is doing a WINDOWS build —
+    # it never reads anything under darwin/ on this code path. As long
+    # as the cache directory exists with the Windows-relevant files,
+    # electron-builder's "is the cache present?" check passes and it
+    # skips its own extraction entirely.
+    #
+    # Tooling: we use 7za.exe from the 7zip-bin npm package that
+    # electron-builder itself depends on (so we know it's present after
+    # the workspace `npm install` finishes). Falls back to no-op if
+    # neither is found — electron-builder will then attempt its own
+    # broken extraction and fail with a recognizable error.
+
+    $cacheRoot = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\electron-builder\Cache\winCodeSign"
+    $extractedDir = "$cacheRoot\winCodeSign-2.6.0"
+    $sentinel = "$extractedDir\windows-10\x64\signtool.exe"
+
+    # Fast-path: already populated from a prior run.
+    if (Test-Path $sentinel) {
+        Write-Info "electron-builder winCodeSign cache already populated"
+        return
+    }
+
+    # Locate 7za.exe. electron-builder hoists 7zip-bin to the workspace
+    # root node_modules so apps/desktop's pack step can find it.
+    $sevenZip = "$InstallDir\node_modules\7zip-bin\win\x64\7za.exe"
+    if (-not (Test-Path $sevenZip)) {
+        # Some npm versions don't hoist; check apps/desktop's local copy.
+        $sevenZip = "$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"
+        Write-Warn "  Looked at: $InstallDir\node_modules\7zip-bin\win\x64\7za.exe"
+        Write-Warn "  and:        $InstallDir\apps\desktop\node_modules\7zip-bin\win\x64\7za.exe"
+        return
+    }
+
+    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $cacheRoot | Out-Null
+
+    # Download to a TEMP path; electron-builder doesn't care about the
+    # archive itself once the extracted dir exists.
+    $tmpArchive = "$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 to skip electron-builder's broken extraction..."
+    try {
+        Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $tmpArchive -UseBasicParsing -ErrorAction Stop
+    } catch {
+        Write-Warn "Failed to download winCodeSign: $_"
+        Write-Warn "  electron-builder will fall back to its own extraction (which fails on non-admin Windows)"
+        return
+    }
+
+    # 7-Zip flags:
+    #   x            extract with full paths
+    #   -y           assume yes on all prompts
+    #   -bd          no progress bar (silent)
+    #   -snl         do NOT extract symbolic links as links — store as the
+    #                resolved file content instead. This is what stops the
+    #                privilege-not-held crash on the darwin/*.dylib symlinks.
+    #   -x!darwin    exclude the entire darwin/ subtree (macOS-specific
+    #                code-signing tools that a Windows build doesn't need)
+    #   -o<dir>      output directory
+    #
+    # Belt-and-suspenders: we BOTH skip the darwin subtree AND tell 7-Zip
+    # to dereference any remaining symlinks. Either alone would fix it;
+    # together they're defensive against winCodeSign adding more symlinks
+    # under linux/ or appxAssets/ in some future release.
+    $prevEAP = $ErrorActionPreference
+    $ErrorActionPreference = "Continue"
+    & $sevenZip x -y -bd -snl "-x!darwin" "-o$cacheRoot" $tmpArchive 2>&1 | Out-Null
+    $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
@@ -1856,9 +1956,15 @@ function Install-Desktop {
     # don't need to produce an NSIS/MSI artifact here.
 
     if (-not $HasNode) {
-        Write-Warn "Skipping desktop build (Node.js not installed)"
-        $script:_StageSkippedReason = "Node.js not available"
-        return
+        # Cross-process driver mode: each `-Stage NAME` invocation runs in a
+        # fresh PowerShell process, so $script:HasNode set by Stage-Node
+        # in the previous process isn't visible. Re-detect rather than
+        # trusting the global.
+        if (-not (Get-Command npm -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
+            Write-Warn "Skipping desktop build (Node.js / npm not on PATH)"
+            $script:_StageSkippedReason = "Node.js not available"
+            return
+        }
     }
 
     $desktopDir = "$InstallDir\apps\desktop"
@@ -1913,6 +2019,13 @@ function Install-Desktop {
     }
     Pop-Location
 
+    # Pre-warm electron-builder's winCodeSign cache so its own broken
+    # 7-Zip extraction doesn't fire later. Has to happen AFTER the
+    # workspace npm install (we need 7za.exe from 7zip-bin) but BEFORE
+    # `npm run pack` (which triggers electron-builder's first cache miss).
+    # See Initialize-ElectronBuilderCache for the full rationale.
+    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