diff --git a/crates/pf-inject/src/inject/windows/stream_target.rs b/crates/pf-inject/src/inject/windows/stream_target.rs
index 4a119ad2..65c4cf12 100644
--- a/crates/pf-inject/src/inject/windows/stream_target.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-inject/src/inject/windows/stream_target.rs
@@ -66,9 +66,7 @@ fn stream_rect() -> Option<Rect> {
     let fresh = st.queried.is_some_and(|at| at.elapsed() < RECT_TTL);
     if !fresh {
         st.queried = Some(Instant::now());
-        // SAFETY: read-only QueryDisplayConfig over owned locals (`source_desktop_rect`'s
-        // contract — the same call the cursor-readback poller makes at spawn).
-        match unsafe { pf_win_display::win_display::source_desktop_rect(target_id) } {
+        match pf_win_display::win_display::source_desktop_rect(target_id) {
             Some(r) => {
                 if st.rect != Some(r) {
                     tracing::info!(target_id, rect = ?r, "stream-target desktop rect resolved");
diff --git a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/admission.rs b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/admission.rs
index 66c6e389..e8635ff9 100644
--- a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/admission.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/admission.rs
@@ -124,10 +124,21 @@ pub fn effective_conflict() -> ModeConflict {
 /// (`design/windows-parallel-virtual-displays.md` §2.5): a display we can't afford is DECLINED here,
 /// never admitted-then-degrading a live sibling.
 pub fn admit(req_identity: Option<[u8; 32]>) -> Admission {
-    let live = table().lock().unwrap();
-    let decision = decide(effective_conflict(), req_identity, &live);
+    // The table guard is scoped to `decide` ALONE. The budget checks below call
+    // `manager::snapshot()` — which blocks on the manager `state` lock, held across DDC round trips,
+    // SetupAPI devnode work and three 3 s activation ladders — and `pf_encode`'s NVENC probe. Holding
+    // the process-wide live-session table across those stalled every other connect, disconnect and
+    // mgmt read behind one slow display operation.
+    let (decision, any_live) = {
+        let live = table().lock().unwrap();
+        (
+            decide(effective_conflict(), req_identity, &live),
+            !live.is_empty(),
+        )
+    };
+    let _ = any_live; // read only by the Windows budget block below
     #[cfg(windows)]
-    if matches!(decision, Admission::Separate) && !live.is_empty() {
+    if matches!(decision, Admission::Separate) && any_live {
         let max = policy::prefs().get().effective().max_displays;
         let slots = super::manager::snapshot().len() as u32;
         if slots >= max {
diff --git a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs
index ed983734..6a5f510a 100644
--- a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/gamescope.rs
@@ -963,6 +963,13 @@ fn create_managed_session_steamos(mode: Mode, hdr: bool) -> Result<VirtualOutput
     write_steamos_dropin(&shim_dir, mode, hdr)?;
     systemctl_user(&["daemon-reload"]);
     systemctl_user(&["restart", STEAMOS_SESSION_TARGET]);
+    // LOCK ORDER. Everything below this line must run WITHOUT `MANAGED_SESSION` held: the restore
+    // path takes STEAMOS_TOOK_OVER first and MANAGED_SESSION second (`do_restore_tv_session`), and
+    // `takeover_live` reads the whole set — so taking them in the other order here is an AB/BA
+    // deadlock between a connect and the restore worker, which genuinely run concurrently
+    // (`registry.rs` calls `vd.create` off the registry lock; the worker is its own thread).
+    // Nothing between here and the re-acquire reads the tracked session.
+    drop(guard);
     *STEAMOS_TOOK_OVER.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner()) = true;
     persist_takeover(); // A3: survive a host crash mid-stream
                         // gamescope's node appears within a few seconds of the restart; Steam's first FRAME is slower
@@ -980,7 +987,8 @@ fn create_managed_session_steamos(mode: Mode, hdr: bool) -> Result<VirtualOutput
     // a clean restart rather than a same-mode reuse of a session we just rejected.
     verify_managed_spawn_flags(hdr)?;
     point_injector_at_eis();
-    *guard = Some(SessionState {
+    // Re-acquire to record the tracked session — the same shape `create_managed_session` uses.
+    *MANAGED_SESSION.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner()) = Some(SessionState {
         width: mode.width,
         height: mode.height,
         refresh_hz: mode.refresh_hz,
@@ -1889,15 +1897,21 @@ pub fn schedule_restore_tv_session() {
 /// display manager, a SteamOS target we re-pointed, or a managed session we launched beside a live
 /// desktop? The precondition for every restore path.
 fn takeover_live() -> bool {
-    !STOPPED_AUTOLOGIN
+    // ONE lock at a time. In a `||` chain every `.lock()` temporary lives to the end of the
+    // statement, so this used to hold all four simultaneously — putting it in the lock-order graph
+    // for no reason, since each is only read. Scoped bindings drop each guard before the next.
+    let autologin = !STOPPED_AUTOLOGIN
         .lock()
         .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
-        .is_empty()
-        || *STEAMOS_TOOK_OVER.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
-        || STOPPED_DM
-            .lock()
-            .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
-            .is_some()
+        .is_empty();
+    let steamos = *STEAMOS_TOOK_OVER.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
+    let dm = STOPPED_DM
+        .lock()
+        .unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner())
+        .is_some();
+    autologin
+        || steamos
+        || dm
         // A managed session that took nothing over (started beside a live desktop — e.g. a client
         // gamescope pin on a KDE box) still owns the transient SESSION_UNIT: without this arm it
         // was ORPHANED forever after disconnect ("closing the app does not end the session",
diff --git a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/session.rs b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/session.rs
index f655a3f0..0c25b574 100644
--- a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/session.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/session.rs
@@ -50,8 +50,18 @@ static LAST_INSTANCE: std::sync::Mutex<Option<(ActiveKind, Option<u32>)>> =
 /// session (the per-connect resolve, the mid-stream watcher, the capture-loss re-detect).
 pub fn observe_session_instance(active: &ActiveSession) {
     let cur = (active.kind, active.compositor_pid);
-    let mut last = LAST_INSTANCE.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
-    if let Some(prev) = *last {
+    // DECIDE under the lock, ACT outside it. The action below drops keep-alive displays through the
+    // registry lock and shells out to `systemctl` on a 10 s budget; holding a process-wide mutex
+    // across that blocks every other detector — and this runs from the per-connect resolve, the
+    // mid-stream switch watcher AND the capture-loss re-detect. The baseline is advanced inside the
+    // lock too, so a concurrent observer sees the new instance and cannot run the action twice.
+    let changed = {
+        let mut last = LAST_INSTANCE.lock().unwrap_or_else(|e| e.into_inner());
+        let prev = *last;
+        *last = Some(cur);
+        prev
+    };
+    if let Some(prev) = changed {
         // Only a **desktop** compositor (KWin / Mutter / wlroots) instance change bumps the epoch +
         // invalidates its kept displays — its PipeWire node dies with the compositor. A **gamescope**
         // session (`ActiveKind::Gaming`) is NOT the epoch's subject: the box's game-mode / managed
@@ -83,7 +93,6 @@ pub fn observe_session_instance(active: &ActiveSession) {
             );
         }
     }
-    *last = Some(cur);
 }
 
 /// Counterpart to [`settle_desktop_portal`]'s `import-environment`: drop the desktop session's
diff --git a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/windows/manager.rs b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/windows/manager.rs
index 74556924..232c9ff9 100644
--- a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/windows/manager.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/windows/manager.rs
@@ -983,8 +983,22 @@ impl VirtualDisplayManager {
                     // a pair: eviction restarts presentation, the session re-attaches capture.
                     TOPOLOGY_REASSERT_GEN.fetch_add(1, Ordering::Relaxed);
                 }
-            })
-            .expect("spawn vdisplay-exclusive-watch");
+            });
+        // NOT `.expect()`: this runs holding BOTH `exclusive_watch` and (via the caller) `state`, so
+        // a panic here poisons the two locks the whole manager runs on — every later `acquire` and
+        // every mgmt read would then panic on `.lock().unwrap()`. A thread we could not spawn means
+        // no re-assert watchdog, which is a degradation; wedging the manager is not.
+        let thread = match thread {
+            Ok(t) => t,
+            Err(e) => {
+                tracing::error!(
+                    error = %e,
+                    "could not spawn the exclusive re-assert watchdog — the isolate will not be \
+                     re-asserted if something re-lights a physical display"
+                );
+                return;
+            }
+        };
         *guard = Some(Pinger { stop, thread });
     }
 
diff --git a/crates/punktfunk-host/src/gamestream/stream.rs b/crates/punktfunk-host/src/gamestream/stream.rs
index 36ea6ead..c7500bba 100644
--- a/crates/punktfunk-host/src/gamestream/stream.rs
+++ b/crates/punktfunk-host/src/gamestream/stream.rs
@@ -254,6 +254,21 @@ fn run(
         // Desktop<->Game switch.
         let (mut capturer, compositor, gamescope_route) =
             open_gs_virtual_source(cfg, app, target.as_ref(), &life.quit)?;
+        // Only the Linux `launch_is_nested` reads it; gamescope does not exist on Windows.
+        #[cfg(not(target_os = "linux"))]
+        let _ = &gamescope_route;
+        // Register this session in the admission table. GameStream acquires a REAL display but
+        // never registered, so `admit`'s Windows budgets — `max_displays` and the NVENC session
+        // headroom — could not see it: both gate on `!live.is_empty()`, so a Moonlight-held display
+        // was invisible to them and a native connect could be admitted past a budget the box had
+        // already spent. Identity is `None` (the compat plane has no cert fingerprint), which is the
+        // same "anonymous" the conflict policy already handles. Dropped at the end of `run`.
+        let _admission_guard = crate::vdisplay::admission::register(
+            None,
+            (cfg.width, cfg.height, cfg.fps),
+            life.quit.clone(),
+            "gamestream".to_string(),
+        );
         tracing::info!(
             ?compositor,
             app = ?app.map(|a| &a.title),
diff --git a/crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/stream.rs b/crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/stream.rs
index 2a5e237e..c1f610e5 100644
--- a/crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/stream.rs
+++ b/crates/punktfunk-host/src/native/stream.rs
@@ -1107,6 +1107,10 @@ pub(super) fn virtual_stream(ctx: SessionContext, prepared: Option<PreparedDispl
         bringup,
         resize_ms,
     } = ctx;
+    // Only the Linux paths (`launch_is_nested`, `set_gamescope_route`) read it; gamescope does not
+    // exist on Windows, where every one of those call sites is cfg'd out.
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    let _ = &gamescope_route;
     // Reference point for adopting the launched game's processes: anything the host will call "this
     // session's game" has to have started after this instant. Taken HERE, before the display (and
     // therefore before a bare-spawn gamescope's nested child) exists, because a reading taken after