diff --git a/config/scripts/pr-workflow-parallelism.test.mjs b/config/scripts/pr-workflow-parallelism.test.mjs
index 8a4dffe70ee..1253bc01cd2 100644
--- a/config/scripts/pr-workflow-parallelism.test.mjs
+++ b/config/scripts/pr-workflow-parallelism.test.mjs
@@ -96,8 +96,13 @@ describe('PR workflow parallelism', () => {
         .split(/\s+/)
         .filter((token) => !['apt-get', 'install', 'sudo', ''].includes(token))
         .filter((token) => !token.startsWith('-'))
-    const jobsInstallingPackages = Object.entries(workflow.jobs)
-      .filter(([, job]) => (job.steps ?? []).some((step) => aptPackages(step).length > 0))
+    const requiredShells = ['zsh', 'fish']
+    const jobsInstallingShells = Object.entries(workflow.jobs)
+      .filter(([, job]) =>
+        (job.steps ?? []).some((step) =>
+          aptPackages(step).some((packageName) => requiredShells.includes(packageName))
+        )
+      )
       .map(([name]) => name)
 
     expect(shellStep).toBeDefined()
@@ -105,11 +110,11 @@ describe('PR workflow parallelism', () => {
     expect(shellStep.run.split(/\s+/)).toContain('--maxWorkers=1')
     // Why the whole workflow, not just the general shards: any other lane installing
     // these shells would silently start running the real-shell tests twice.
-    expect(jobsInstallingPackages).toEqual(['shell_contracts'])
+    expect(jobsInstallingShells).toEqual(['shell_contracts'])
     // Why each shell is asserted: the live tests skip themselves when the binary is
     // missing, so a dropped package silently empties this lane instead of failing it.
     const shellPackages = workflow.jobs.shell_contracts.steps.flatMap(aptPackages)
-    for (const shell of ['zsh', 'fish']) {
+    for (const shell of requiredShells) {
       expect(shellPackages).toContain(shell)
     }
     expect(shellInstall.with['native-runtime']).toBe('node')
diff --git a/src/main/updater-events.test.ts b/src/main/updater-events.test.ts
index faa713d6c68..092995c50cd 100644
--- a/src/main/updater-events.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/updater-events.test.ts
@@ -270,6 +270,25 @@ describe('registerAutoUpdaterHandlers linux package artifact tracking', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  it('keeps manual-install recovery when a later check finds only the installed release', async () => {
+    const { emit, context, getArtifact } = await register()
+    emit('update-downloaded', downloadedEvent())
+
+    emit('update-available', { version: '1.0.51' })
+
+    expect(getArtifact()).toEqual(expect.objectContaining({ version: '1.0.61' }))
+    expect(context.sendStatus).toHaveBeenLastCalledWith({
+      state: 'error',
+      message: 'Quit Orca before running the system package install command.',
+      recovery: {
+        kind: 'linux-package-install',
+        packageType: 'deb',
+        reason: 'manual-install-required',
+        version: '1.0.61'
+      }
+    })
+  })
+
   it('clears recovery when a newer update takes over before no-update settles', async () => {
     const { emit, context, getArtifact } = await register()
     emit('update-downloaded', downloadedEvent())
diff --git a/src/main/updater-events.ts b/src/main/updater-events.ts
index c0546abd807..4503aa1e04e 100644
--- a/src/main/updater-events.ts
+++ b/src/main/updater-events.ts
@@ -150,7 +150,12 @@ export function registerAutoUpdaterHandlers({
           scheduleAutomaticUpdateCheck(AUTO_UPDATE_CHECK_INTERVAL_MS)
         }
       }
-      sendStatus({ state: 'not-available', userInitiated: wasUserInitiated || undefined })
+      sendStatus(
+        getRetainedLinuxPackageManualInstallStatus() ?? {
+          state: 'not-available',
+          userInitiated: wasUserInitiated || undefined
+        }
+      )
       return
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/updater.headless-serve-install.test.ts b/src/main/updater.headless-serve-install.test.ts
index 1c756f2f4ce..b33b8a4fd3b 100644
--- a/src/main/updater.headless-serve-install.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/updater.headless-serve-install.test.ts
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ describe('headless serve update install handoff', () => {
 
     checkForUpdatesFromMenu()
     await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(0)
+    autoUpdaterMock.emit('download-progress', { percent: 100 })
     autoUpdaterMock.emit('update-downloaded', { version: pendingInstaller.version })
     const nativeReadyHandler = nativeUpdaterMock.on.mock.calls.find(
       ([event]) => event === 'update-downloaded'
diff --git a/src/main/updater.quit-and-install.test.ts b/src/main/updater.quit-and-install.test.ts
index 945538b3895..05044c203f8 100644
--- a/src/main/updater.quit-and-install.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/updater.quit-and-install.test.ts
@@ -287,6 +287,7 @@ describe('updater', () => {
       })
     })
 
+    autoUpdaterMock.emit('download-progress', { percent: 100 })
     autoUpdaterMock.emit('update-downloaded', { version: '1.0.61' })
 
     // Why: on macOS install commits only once Squirrel is ready; mark it ready so this test covers the post-commit path on all platforms.