diff --git a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/kwin.rs b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/kwin.rs
index 36e06a25..bf7c3d99 100644
--- a/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/kwin.rs
+++ b/crates/pf-vdisplay/src/vdisplay/linux/kwin.rs
@@ -13,8 +13,11 @@
 //! So an interactive Plasma session does NOT hand it to a bare client — the host packages ship
 //! `io.unom.Punktfunk.Host.desktop` (`Exec=/usr/bin/punktfunk-host`,
 //! `X-KDE-Wayland-Interfaces=zkde_screencast_unstable_v1,…`) so it is present before the host first
-//! connects. The headless test path instead exposes it to bare clients via
-//! `KWIN_WAYLAND_NO_PERMISSION_CHECKS=1`. The compositor backend must implement
+//! connects. That identification is also why **the host binary must carry no file capability**: a
+//! process holding capabilities KWin lacks is one the kernel will not let KWin resolve
+//! `/proc/<pid>/exe` for, so it can never be matched to a `.desktop` no matter how correctly the
+//! file is installed (see [`capability_denial_hint`]). The headless test path instead exposes it to
+//! bare clients via `KWIN_WAYLAND_NO_PERMISSION_CHECKS=1`. The compositor backend must implement
 //! `createVirtualOutput`: the **DRM backend** (any version) or the **VirtualBackend since KWin
 //! 6.5.6** (`kwin_wayland --virtual`); on `--virtual` < 6.5.6 the request fails with
 //! "Could not find output". We talk raw Wayland on `$WAYLAND_DISPLAY`, so the host must run inside
@@ -1071,6 +1074,74 @@ impl Drop for StopOnDrop {
     }
 }
 
+/// Extra sentence appended to every "KWin never advertised the screencast global" error when this
+/// process carries capabilities — the one cause that is completely invisible from the Wayland side.
+///
+/// KWin authorizes a restricted interface by resolving the *client's* `/proc/<pid>/exe` and
+/// matching it against an installed `.desktop`. The kernel refuses that readlink to any reader
+/// whose effective set is not a superset of the target's **permitted** set
+/// (`cap_ptrace_access_check`), and KWin has no capabilities at all. So a host binary carrying any
+/// file capability is simply unidentifiable: `executablePath()` comes back empty, no `.desktop` can
+/// match, and the global is never advertised — indistinguishable, from here, from a missing
+/// `.desktop`. Neither half of the obvious workaround helps: `prctl(PR_SET_DUMPABLE, 1)` leaves the
+/// permitted-set check failing, and moving the grant to systemd `AmbientCapabilities=` lands the
+/// capability in the same permitted set. Only an uncapped binary is identifiable.
+///
+/// This is not hypothetical: 0.26.0-1 setcap'd `cap_sys_nice` on the host for the GPU-priority
+/// lever and took out desktop streaming on every KDE box until the capability was removed again.
+fn capability_denial_hint() -> String {
+    let permitted = std::fs::read_to_string("/proc/self/status")
+        .ok()
+        .and_then(|status| permitted_caps_from_status(&status));
+    match permitted {
+        Some(caps) if caps != 0 => format!(
+            " — NOTE: this process carries capabilities (CapPrm={caps:#018x}), which is enough on \
+             its own to cause this: the kernel then refuses KWin the /proc/<pid>/exe read it \
+             identifies clients by, so no .desktop can match however correctly it is installed. \
+             Clear them with `sudo setcap -r /usr/bin/punktfunk-host` and restart the host"
+        ),
+        _ => String::new(),
+    }
+}
+
+/// The permitted-capability mask out of a `/proc/<pid>/status` body, or `None` if the field is
+/// absent/unparseable. The kernel prints it as a tab-separated 16-digit hex word with no `0x`
+/// (`CapPrm:\t0000000000800000` = CAP_SYS_NICE), which is what the split-and-radix-16 parse below
+/// expects — split out from [`capability_denial_hint`] purely so that shape is testable without a
+/// capability-carrying process to point at.
+fn permitted_caps_from_status(status: &str) -> Option<u64> {
+    let field = status.lines().find(|l| l.starts_with("CapPrm:"))?;
+    u64::from_str_radix(field.split_whitespace().nth(1)?, 16).ok()
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod capability_hint_tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// Verbatim from a `cap_sys_nice=ep` process on CachyOS — the case that broke 0.26.0-1.
+    const CAPPED: &str = "Name:\tpunktfunk-host\nUid:\t1000\t1000\t1000\t1000\nCapPrm:\t0000000000800000\nCapEff:\t0000000000800000\n";
+    /// ...and from the same binary with no capability, where the hint must stay silent.
+    const CLEAN: &str = "Name:\tpunktfunk-host\nUid:\t1000\t1000\t1000\t1000\nCapPrm:\t0000000000000000\nCapEff:\t0000000000000000\n";
+
+    #[test]
+    fn parses_the_kernels_permitted_mask() {
+        assert_eq!(permitted_caps_from_status(CAPPED), Some(0x0080_0000));
+        assert_eq!(permitted_caps_from_status(CLEAN), Some(0));
+        // CapPrm is not guaranteed present (older/again-different kernels): stay quiet, never panic.
+        assert_eq!(permitted_caps_from_status("Name:\tx\n"), None);
+        assert_eq!(permitted_caps_from_status("CapPrm:\tzzzz\n"), None);
+        assert_eq!(permitted_caps_from_status("CapPrm:\n"), None);
+    }
+
+    /// A capability-free host must not append the hint — the message it decorates is also printed
+    /// on genuinely missing `.desktop` files, and a spurious "you have capabilities" line would
+    /// send the reader chasing a setcap that was never there. The test process has no capabilities.
+    #[test]
+    fn silent_without_capabilities() {
+        assert_eq!(capability_denial_hint(), "");
+    }
+}
+
 /// Readiness probe: connect to the KWin Wayland socket, roundtrip the registry, and confirm
 /// the privileged `zkde_screencast` global is actually advertised. This is exactly what
 /// [`run`] needs before it can create a virtual output, so a session-bringup script can poll
@@ -1090,7 +1161,8 @@ pub fn probe() -> Result<()> {
              it on the host's .desktop X-KDE-Wayland-Interfaces (install \
              io.unom.Punktfunk.Host.desktop with Exec=/usr/bin/punktfunk-host, then re-login so KWin \
              re-reads it — the grant is cached per-exe on first connect), or set \
-             KWIN_WAYLAND_NO_PERMISSION_CHECKS=1 for the headless test; needs KWin ≥ 6.5.6"
+             KWIN_WAYLAND_NO_PERMISSION_CHECKS=1 for the headless test; needs KWin ≥ 6.5.6{}",
+            capability_denial_hint()
         );
     }
     Ok(())
@@ -1134,7 +1206,9 @@ fn run_existing(
         anyhow!(
             "KWin does not expose zkde_screencast_unstable_v1 to this client — install the host's \
              .desktop (io.unom.Punktfunk.Host.desktop, X-KDE-Wayland-Interfaces) and re-login so \
-             KWin authorizes it, or run KWin with KWIN_WAYLAND_NO_PERMISSION_CHECKS=1 (headless test)"
+             KWin authorizes it, or run KWin with KWIN_WAYLAND_NO_PERMISSION_CHECKS=1 (headless \
+             test){}",
+            capability_denial_hint()
         )
     })?;
 
@@ -1223,7 +1297,9 @@ fn run(
         anyhow!(
             "KWin does not expose zkde_screencast_unstable_v1 to this client — install the host's \
              .desktop (io.unom.Punktfunk.Host.desktop, X-KDE-Wayland-Interfaces) and re-login so \
-             KWin authorizes it, or run KWin with KWIN_WAYLAND_NO_PERMISSION_CHECKS=1 (headless test)"
+             KWin authorizes it, or run KWin with KWIN_WAYLAND_NO_PERMISSION_CHECKS=1 (headless \
+             test){}",
+            capability_denial_hint()
         )
     })?;
 
diff --git a/packaging/arch/punktfunk-host.install b/packaging/arch/punktfunk-host.install
index 2774590e..0890f62c 100644
--- a/packaging/arch/punktfunk-host.install
+++ b/packaging/arch/punktfunk-host.install
@@ -12,33 +12,48 @@ _ensure_punktfunk_group() {
   getent group punktfunk >/dev/null 2>&1 || groupadd --system punktfunk 2>/dev/null || true
 }
 
-# CAP_SYS_NICE on the host binary — the GPU-scheduling grant.
+# NO capability on the host binary — and an active removal of the one 0.26.0-1 granted.
 #
-# WHY: PyroWave encodes on the GPU's shader cores, so a GPU-bound game starves it (measured: the
-# encode dispatch goes from ~2 ms to 15-18 ms at 95 % game load). The fix is an elevated
-# global-priority Vulkan queue, which the driver gates on CAP_SYS_NICE — measured 2026-08-08 on an
-# RTX 5070 Ti: WITHOUT the capability every priority class is refused, WITH it the encoder is
-# granted REALTIME on the first attempt. RADV is the same. Without this line the knob exists and
-# does nothing. Same capability, same mechanism, as our gamescope package sets on its own binary.
+# 0.26.0-1 ran `setcap cap_sys_nice=ep` here, to let the encoder open an elevated global-priority
+# Vulkan queue (PyroWave shares the GPU's shader cores with the game; measured 2026-08-08 on an
+# RTX 5070 Ti, the encode dispatch goes ~2 ms -> 15-18 ms at 95 % game load without it). That grant
+# BROKE DESKTOP STREAMING ON EVERY KDE BOX, and it cannot be made to work — the two are mutually
+# exclusive at the kernel level:
 #
-# NARROW: CAP_SYS_NICE only permits raising scheduling priority (nice/ioprio/affinity/RT class). It
-# grants no filesystem, network or user-switching privilege, and it is NOT setuid.
+#   KWin hands out its restricted Wayland protocols (zkde_screencast_unstable_v1, which mints our
+#   virtual output, and org_kde_kwin_fake_input, which injects input) only to a client it can
+#   IDENTIFY, by resolving that client's /proc/<pid>/exe and matching it against an installed
+#   .desktop's Exec= (ours is io.unom.Punktfunk.Host.desktop). The kernel refuses that readlink to
+#   any reader whose effective set is not a superset of the target's PERMITTED set
+#   (cap_ptrace_access_check), and KWin holds no capabilities. So the moment this binary carries a
+#   capability it becomes unidentifiable: KWin's executablePath() is empty, nothing matches, the
+#   globals are never advertised, and every session dies with
+#   "KWin does not expose zkde_screencast_unstable_v1 to this client" after 8 retries — while
+#   looking exactly like a missing or wrong .desktop file.
 #
-# TWO CONSEQUENCES worth knowing before you debug something odd on this host:
-#  * a file capability makes the process AT_SECURE, so the dynamic loader IGNORES LD_LIBRARY_PATH
-#    and LD_PRELOAD for it. A library-path shim that used to work will silently stop.
-#  * core dumps are suppressed for capability-carrying binaries by default (fs.suid_dumpable).
+# Verified on CachyOS (kernel 7.1.6), same-uid reader, cap_sys_nice=ep on the target:
+#   no capability .............................. readlink /proc/<pid>/exe OK
+#   capability ................................. EPERM
+#   capability + prctl(PR_SET_DUMPABLE, 1) ..... EPERM   <- dumpable is NOT the gate
+#   capability dropped + PR_SET_DUMPABLE(1) .... OK      <- only a capability-free process works
 #
-# Never fails the install: a box without libcap, or a filesystem that cannot store capabilities
-# (some overlay/NFS setups), just runs at default priority exactly as before.
-_grant_sched_capability() {
-  setcap 'cap_sys_nice=ep' usr/bin/punktfunk-host 2>/dev/null || true
+# The third row also rules out the obvious "move it to the systemd unit": AmbientCapabilities= puts
+# CAP_SYS_NICE in exactly the same permitted set and fails identically. Nothing short of not having
+# the capability restores identification, so the host does not get one. The encoder already walks
+# REALTIME -> HIGH -> default when the class is refused (pf-zerocopy vulkan.rs), so this costs
+# pacing under a GPU-bound game and nothing else — 0.25.0's behaviour exactly.
+#
+# The removal below heals boxes that ran 0.26.0-1's scriptlet. A pacman upgrade writes a new inode
+# and file capabilities do not survive that, so this is belt-and-braces for reinstall/downgrade
+# paths — cheap, and the failure it prevents is an 8-retry session death with a misleading message.
+_revoke_sched_capability() {
+  setcap -r usr/bin/punktfunk-host 2>/dev/null || true
 }
 
 post_install() {
   _ensure_update_group
   _ensure_punktfunk_group
-  _grant_sched_capability
+  _revoke_sched_capability
   udevadm control --reload-rules 2>/dev/null || true
   udevadm trigger --subsystem-match=misc 2>/dev/null || true
   # Apply the UDP socket-buffer tuning now (also auto-applied at boot by systemd-sysctl).
@@ -97,8 +112,8 @@ post_upgrade() {
   # root-only, and the virtual Steam Deck pad silently unable to attach. groupadd is idempotent, so
   # this is a no-op on boxes that installed fresh.
   _ensure_punktfunk_group
-  # A replaced binary is a NEW inode — file capabilities do not survive the upgrade, so re-grant.
-  _grant_sched_capability
+  # Strip the cap_sys_nice 0.26.0-1 granted: it makes the host unidentifiable to KWin (see above).
+  _revoke_sched_capability
   udevadm control --reload-rules 2>/dev/null || true
   sysctl -p /usr/lib/sysctl.d/99-punktfunk-net.conf >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
   _warn_stale_firewall_ports