diff --git a/services/wolf.sh b/services/wolf.sh
index e587926..7e34ae7 100644
--- a/services/wolf.sh
+++ b/services/wolf.sh
@@ -325,7 +325,8 @@ EOF
         echo "    and Wii U (Cemu) in ES-DE via a second, opt-in 'Alternative emulators' command"
         echo "  - Expose Wolf's REST API socket to the host (WOLF_SOCKET_PATH + /var/run/wolf mount)"
         echo "    so './manage.sh controllers' can force distinct pad types per controller slot"
-        echo "  - Force ES-DE's 'Run in background' off durably (mounts + writes esde-settings/es_settings.xml)"
+        echo "  - Mount ~/ES-DE/settings durably + force 'Run in background' off (only once"
+        echo "    GOW's own es_settings.xml template already exists — never pre-created)"
         return 0
     fi
 
@@ -1392,48 +1393,56 @@ PS2XMLPY
     log_success "PS2: added PCEE2 as the default RetroArch core (custom_systems/es_systems.xml) — ES-DE's"
     log_info "own build doesn't ship it yet (added upstream in the not-yet-released 3.5.0)"
 
-    # ── ES-DE: force "Run in background" off ────────────────────────────────
-    # ES-DE's own compiled default for this IS already off (confirmed against
-    # its real Settings.cpp: mBoolMap["RunInBackground"] = {false, false}) —
-    # this write exists purely so that default stays durable and explicit
-    # rather than relying on it never having been toggled. Real, confirmed
-    # cause of a genuine bug otherwise: with it on, ES-DE keeps running and
-    # listening to every controller even after a game/emulator has launched
-    # and taken visual focus — a second controller's input can still reach
-    # ES-DE's own menu in the background and launch (and start playing audio
-    # for) a completely different game while the first one is still up
-    # front. ES-DE's own USERGUIDE.md explicitly names this failure mode
-    # ("make sure that the setting Run in background... is disabled").
-    # Confirmed live: this affects any system, not just Cemu.
+    # ── ES-DE: force "Run in background" off (once GOW's own template exists) ──
+    # GOW's own image bakes a FULL es_settings.xml template (100+ settings —
+    # confirmed against apps/es-de/build/configs/es/es_settings.xml in the
+    # games-on-whales/gow repo) that deliberately sets RunInBackground=true
+    # (NOT ES-DE's own compiled default, which is false — GOW's template is
+    # what actually causes the real, confirmed cross-system bug this exists
+    # to fix: with it on, ES-DE keeps listening to every controller even
+    # after a game/emulator has focus, so a second controller's input can
+    # reach ES-DE's own menu and launch a different game underneath whatever
+    # is already running). GOW's own startup.sh copies that template exactly
+    # ONCE, the very first time the container starts, gated on
+    # `test -f $ES_CFG_DIR/settings/es_settings.xml` — if a file is already
+    # sitting there, GOW's own copy is skipped entirely and ES-DE falls back
+    # to its own vanilla defaults for EVERYTHING ELSE in that file, including
+    # ROMDirectory (GOW's template sets it to the /ROMs this whole repo
+    # mounts games at; ES-DE's own default is not that).
     #
-    # es_settings.xml is the user's OWN full settings state (theme, scraper
-    # prefs, everything) — unlike es_systems.xml this is never a full
-    # rewrite, only a surgical strip-and-reappend of this one <bool> entry,
-    # same idempotent pattern as everywhere else in this file. Written as a
-    # plain top-level element with no <settings> wrapper, matching what
-    # ES-DE's own Settings::saveFile() actually produces today (confirmed
-    # against its source — the "wrap everything in <settings>" format is
-    # loader-side forward-compatibility for a future ES-DE release, not
-    # what gets written now); either format loads fine either way.
+    # CONFIRMED LIVE, THE HARD WAY: an earlier version of this exact step
+    # pre-created a MINIMAL stub file (containing only the RunInBackground
+    # line) before the container had ever started — GOW's startup.sh saw
+    # that file "already existing", skipped its own copy, and ES-DE's
+    # ROMDirectory silently fell back to a default that isn't /ROMs, finding
+    # zero games on every single system. Root-caused by walking GOW's own
+    # startup.sh line by line against a real "ES-DE finds no game files"
+    # report. Never pre-create this file — only ever patch an ALREADY
+    # existing one (i.e. one GOW's own bootstrap has already populated in
+    # full, meaning ES-DE has been launched via Moonlight at least once).
     mkdir -p "$GAME_STORAGE_DIR/esde-settings"
     _ESDE_SETTINGS="$GAME_STORAGE_DIR/esde-settings/es_settings.xml"
-    backup_if_exists "$_ESDE_SETTINGS"
-    python3 - "$_ESDE_SETTINGS" << 'ESDESETTINGSPY'
+    if [ -s "$_ESDE_SETTINGS" ]; then
+        backup_if_exists "$_ESDE_SETTINGS"
+        python3 - "$_ESDE_SETTINGS" << 'ESDESETTINGSPY'
 import re, sys
 path = sys.argv[1]
-try:
-    with open(path) as f:
-        content = f.read()
-except FileNotFoundError:
-    content = ''
+with open(path) as f:
+    content = f.read()
 content = re.sub(r'[ \t]*<bool name="RunInBackground" value="[^"]*"[ \t]*/>[ \t]*\n?', '', content)
-line = '    <bool name="RunInBackground" value="false" />\n'
-content = (content.rstrip('\n') + '\n' + line) if content.strip() else line
+line = '<bool name="RunInBackground" value="false" />\n'
+content = content.rstrip('\n') + '\n' + line
 with open(path, 'w') as f:
     f.write(content)
 ESDESETTINGSPY
-    chown "$ACTUAL_USER:$ACTUAL_USER" "$_ESDE_SETTINGS"
-    log_success "ES-DE: 'Run in background (while game is launched)' forced off (esde-settings/es_settings.xml)"
+        chown "$ACTUAL_USER:$ACTUAL_USER" "$_ESDE_SETTINGS"
+        log_success "ES-DE: 'Run in background (while game is launched)' forced off (esde-settings/es_settings.xml)"
+    else
+        log_info "ES-DE: 'Run in background' fix deferred — esde-settings/es_settings.xml doesn't"
+        log_info "exist yet (GOW writes its real, full template the first time EmulationStation"
+        log_info "actually launches). Connect to it via Moonlight once, then re-run"
+        log_info "'sudo ./setup.sh wolf' to apply this fix without touching anything else."
+    fi
 
     # ── App selection ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     echo ""
@@ -4359,15 +4368,31 @@ playing underneath whatever already has focus.
 setting. When it's on, ES-DE keeps running and listening to every
 controller even after something else has launched and taken visual
 focus — ES-DE's own USERGUIDE.md names this exact failure mode directly.
-ES-DE's compiled default for this is already off, but nothing durably
-enforced that in this setup before now, so it's easy for it to have
-gotten toggled on at some point and stick that way.
+ES-DE's own *compiled* default for this is off — but GOW's own bundled
+\`es_settings.xml\` template (baked into \`ghcr.io/games-on-whales/es-de\`)
+deliberately sets it **on**, which is the actual, confirmed source of the
+default behavior here.
 
-**This installer now forces it off automatically** (\`esde-settings/es_settings.xml\`,
-written fresh on every install/reinstall) — no menu digging required. If
-you're on an install from before this existed, re-run \`sudo ./setup.sh wolf\`
-to pick it up, or set it by hand: **Main Menu → Other Settings → Run in
-background (while game is launched) → off**.
+**This installer forces it back off** by patching \`esde-settings/es_settings.xml\`
+— but only an *already-populated* copy of that file, never by creating one
+itself. That distinction matters: GOW's own container startup script only
+writes its real template (100+ settings, including where ES-DE looks for
+your ROMs) the very first time EmulationStation actually launches, gated
+on that file not already existing — pre-creating even a minimal version of
+it ourselves, before that first launch, would make GOW skip writing its
+own template entirely and leave ES-DE on vanilla upstream defaults for
+everything else in that file. **Confirmed live, the hard way:** an earlier
+version of this exact fix did precisely that, and ROM discovery broke
+completely (every system, not just one) because ES-DE's ROM path fell
+back to something other than \`/ROMs\`.
+
+So in practice: if you've already launched EmulationStation via Moonlight
+at least once, re-running \`sudo ./setup.sh wolf\` applies this immediately.
+**If you haven't yet** (a genuinely fresh install), the installer says so
+and skips the patch rather than guessing — connect to EmulationStation
+once first, then re-run \`sudo ./setup.sh wolf\`. Setting it by hand works
+too, any time: **Main Menu → Other Settings → Run in background (while
+game is launched) → off**.
 
 **Why this needed its own mount, not just a one-time write:** \`~/ES-DE\`
 (settings, gamelists, scraped artwork, logs) had no bind mount onto the