diff --git a/core/Cargo.lock b/core/Cargo.lock
index 46f9083c..54e1d6ce 100644
--- a/core/Cargo.lock
+++ b/core/Cargo.lock
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ checksum = "a23eb6b1614318a8071c9b2521f36b424b2c83db5eb3a0fead4a6c0809af6e61"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "archipelago"
-version = "1.7.7-alpha"
+version = "1.7.8-alpha"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "archipelago-container",
diff --git a/core/archipelago/Cargo.toml b/core/archipelago/Cargo.toml
index 7229be2e..95befc3e 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/Cargo.toml
+++ b/core/archipelago/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "archipelago"
-version = "1.7.7-alpha"
+version = "1.7.8-alpha"
 edition = "2021"
 description = "Archipelago Bitcoin Node OS - Native backend"
 authors = ["Archipelago Team"]
diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/update.rs b/core/archipelago/src/update.rs
index 3cef79a0..bc5e0af2 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/update.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/update.rs
@@ -277,27 +277,31 @@ pub async fn apply_update(data_dir: &Path) -> Result<()> {
 
         match name.as_str() {
             "archipelago" => {
-                // /usr/local/bin is root-owned; archipelago user can't
-                // fs::copy into it directly. Use sudo install which handles
-                // the copy, mode, and ownership atomically.
+                // We're running FROM /usr/local/bin/archipelago right now,
+                // so we can't rewrite it in place — `install` / `cp` would
+                // hit ETXTBSY on the busy executable. Use `mv` instead:
+                // rename() is atomic and doesn't modify the existing file,
+                // it just re-points the path at a new inode. The currently
+                // running process keeps executing off the old inode; new
+                // invocations (i.e. after the post-apply systemctl
+                // restart) pick up the new binary.
+                let staged = src.to_string_lossy().to_string();
+                let _ = tokio::process::Command::new("sudo")
+                    .args(["chmod", "0755", &staged])
+                    .status()
+                    .await;
+                let _ = tokio::process::Command::new("sudo")
+                    .args(["chown", "root:root", &staged])
+                    .status()
+                    .await;
                 let status = tokio::process::Command::new("sudo")
-                    .args([
-                        "install",
-                        "-m",
-                        "0755",
-                        "-o",
-                        "root",
-                        "-g",
-                        "root",
-                        &src.to_string_lossy(),
-                        "/usr/local/bin/archipelago",
-                    ])
+                    .args(["mv", &staged, "/usr/local/bin/archipelago"])
                     .status()
                     .await
-                    .with_context(|| format!("Failed to spawn install for {}", name))?;
+                    .with_context(|| format!("Failed to spawn mv for {}", name))?;
                 if !status.success() {
                     anyhow::bail!(
-                        "sudo install failed for {} (exit {:?})",
+                        "sudo mv failed for {} (exit {:?})",
                         name,
                         status.code()
                     );
diff --git a/releases/manifest.json b/releases/manifest.json
index bbe449bb..23f7142b 100644
--- a/releases/manifest.json
+++ b/releases/manifest.json
@@ -1,23 +1,23 @@
 {
-  "version": "1.7.7-alpha",
+  "version": "1.7.8-alpha",
   "release_date": "2026-04-20",
   "changelog": [
-    "Over-the-air update test — no feature changes, just a version bump so your node can walk through the whole update flow end-to-end using the new robust installer. Safe to apply; nothing to do afterwards."
+    "Install Update finally works end-to-end over the air. The installer was trying to overwrite the running backend binary with a tool that fails on in-use files (ETXTBSY) — swapped it for an atomic rename, which the kernel allows on a live executable. Every previous 'Failed to apply update' attempt was this one root cause."
   ],
   "components": [
     {
       "name": "archipelago",
-      "current_version": "1.7.6-alpha",
-      "new_version": "1.7.7-alpha",
-      "download_url": "https://git.tx1138.com/lfg2025/archy/raw/branch/main/releases/v1.7.7-alpha/archipelago",
-      "sha256": "e3f1740dcb008a6fcef1adc7f2c9d2f86bfa8d5397e9b8f425260977c7006025",
-      "size_bytes": 40373392
+      "current_version": "1.7.7-alpha",
+      "new_version": "1.7.8-alpha",
+      "download_url": "https://git.tx1138.com/lfg2025/archy/raw/branch/main/releases/v1.7.8-alpha/archipelago",
+      "sha256": "2753daec113bb4fbbc2a68148ef1579524a26707733eea410faf400b9948094d",
+      "size_bytes": 40377648
     },
     {
-      "name": "archipelago-frontend-1.7.7-alpha.tar.gz",
-      "current_version": "1.7.6-alpha",
-      "new_version": "1.7.7-alpha",
-      "download_url": "https://git.tx1138.com/lfg2025/archy/raw/branch/main/releases/v1.7.7-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.7.7-alpha.tar.gz",
+      "name": "archipelago-frontend-1.7.8-alpha.tar.gz",
+      "current_version": "1.7.7-alpha",
+      "new_version": "1.7.8-alpha",
+      "download_url": "https://git.tx1138.com/lfg2025/archy/raw/branch/main/releases/v1.7.8-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.7.8-alpha.tar.gz",
       "sha256": "4fb796643cc9dc8469078ca3392f7cc5541071f6849979922b3259e5f20172e9",
       "size_bytes": 76984615
     }
diff --git a/releases/v1.7.8-alpha/archipelago b/releases/v1.7.8-alpha/archipelago
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..0a5da0d2
Binary files /dev/null and b/releases/v1.7.8-alpha/archipelago differ
diff --git a/releases/v1.7.8-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.7.8-alpha.tar.gz b/releases/v1.7.8-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.7.8-alpha.tar.gz
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2465942a
Binary files /dev/null and b/releases/v1.7.8-alpha/archipelago-frontend-1.7.8-alpha.tar.gz differ