diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/bootstrap.rs b/core/archipelago/src/bootstrap.rs
index caa8f08d..f28873ac 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/bootstrap.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/bootstrap.rs
@@ -130,6 +130,11 @@ pub async fn ensure_doctor_installed() {
         Ok(false) => debug!("Bitcoin RPC bind settings already usable"),
         Err(e) => warn!("Bitcoin RPC repair failed (non-fatal): {:#}", e),
     }
+    match run_apps_dir_repair().await {
+        Ok(true) => info!("Populated /opt/archipelago/apps from installer copy at /etc/archipelago/apps"),
+        Ok(false) => debug!("/opt/archipelago/apps already populated (or no installer copy)"),
+        Err(e) => warn!("Apps dir repair failed (non-fatal): {:#}", e),
+    }
     match run_journald_dropin().await {
         Ok(true) => info!("Installed journald log-volume policy drop-in"),
         Ok(false) => debug!("journald log-volume policy already in place"),
@@ -402,6 +407,39 @@ fn path_dot(path: &Path) -> String {
     p.to_string_lossy().to_string()
 }
 
+/// ISO installs before the auto-install.sh path fix copied the app manifests
+/// to /etc/archipelago/apps while the backend loads them from
+/// /opt/archipelago/apps — so fresh nodes had ZERO disk manifests and only
+/// catalog-covered apps could install (netbird "manifests not available",
+/// framework node 2026-07-14). Self-heal: when /opt has no manifests and the
+/// installer copy exists, populate /opt from /etc. Never overwrites existing
+/// /opt manifests (OTA runtime-assets sync owns those afterwards).
+async fn run_apps_dir_repair() -> Result<bool> {
+    let script = r#"
+set -eu
+src=/etc/archipelago/apps
+dst=/opt/archipelago/apps
+[ -d "$src" ] || exit 0
+# Only heal when the destination has no manifests at all.
+if [ -d "$dst" ] && [ -n "$(ls -A "$dst" 2>/dev/null)" ]; then exit 0; fi
+ls "$src"/*/manifest.yml >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 0
+mkdir -p "$dst"
+cp -r "$src"/. "$dst"/
+exit 2
+"#;
+    let status = host_sudo(&["sh", "-lc", script])
+        .await
+        .context("populate /opt/archipelago/apps from installer copy")?;
+    match status.code() {
+        Some(0) => Ok(false),
+        Some(2) => Ok(true),
+        _ => {
+            warn!("Apps dir repair helper exited with {}", status);
+            Ok(false)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 async fn run_bitcoin_rpc_repair() -> Result<bool> {
     // Older installs can have a container-owned bitcoin.conf with only rpcauth
     // and printtoconsole. Repair it at startup so OTA fixes existing nodes
@@ -421,6 +459,12 @@ ensure_line() {
     fi
 }
 ensure_line server=1
+# rpcbind=0.0.0.0 is required inside the container: with rpcallowip set but
+# no rpcbind, bitcoind binds RPC to the container's loopback only and every
+# dial over the container network (LND, bitcoin-ui) is refused — the fresh-
+# install "LND took 5 attempts" / bitcoin-rpc 502 failure (host publish stays
+# 127.0.0.1-only, so exposure is unchanged).
+ensure_line rpcbind=0.0.0.0
 ensure_line rpcallowip=0.0.0.0/0
 ensure_line listen=1
 # Log-volume fix: printtoconsole=1 duplicated every log line (incl. per-block
diff --git a/image-recipe/_archived/build-auto-installer-iso.sh b/image-recipe/_archived/build-auto-installer-iso.sh
index abe90baa..d3078656 100755
--- a/image-recipe/_archived/build-auto-installer-iso.sh
+++ b/image-recipe/_archived/build-auto-installer-iso.sh
@@ -2482,6 +2482,12 @@ fi
 
 if [ -d "$BOOT_MEDIA/archipelago/apps" ]; then
     cp -r "$BOOT_MEDIA/archipelago/apps" /mnt/target/etc/archipelago/
+    # The backend loads disk manifests from /opt/archipelago/apps — copying
+    # only to /etc/archipelago/apps left fresh installs with ZERO manifests,
+    # so any app not covered by the signed catalog (e.g. netbird) could not
+    # install at all. Ship them where the orchestrator actually looks.
+    mkdir -p /mnt/target/opt/archipelago/apps
+    cp -r "$BOOT_MEDIA/archipelago/apps/." /mnt/target/opt/archipelago/apps/
 fi
 
 # Copy pre-bundled container images