diff --git a/bin/test-installer-ui-flow b/bin/test-installer-ui-flow
index b4b337e..5bf419f 100755
--- a/bin/test-installer-ui-flow
+++ b/bin/test-installer-ui-flow
@@ -132,6 +132,8 @@ if [[ $fail_status -ne 7 ]]; then
   echo "Expected failure worker status 7, got $fail_status" >&2
   exit 1
 fi
+assert_contains "$fail_log" "[dashboard] installer child exited with status 7"
+assert_contains "$fail_log" "[dashboard] last installer phase: Installing Arch + Omarchy"
 assert_not_contains "$fail_capture" "Installed in"
 assert_not_contains "$fail_capture" "Finished installing"
 
diff --git a/configs/airootfs/usr/local/bin/omarchy-install-dashboard b/configs/airootfs/usr/local/bin/omarchy-install-dashboard
index f21bca4..22a96fb 100755
--- a/configs/airootfs/usr/local/bin/omarchy-install-dashboard
+++ b/configs/airootfs/usr/local/bin/omarchy-install-dashboard
@@ -332,12 +332,37 @@ set -e
 child_pid=""
 child_pgid=""
 
+echo "[dashboard] installer child exited with status $status" >>"$LOG_FILE"
+
 if (( status != 0 )); then
+  if [[ -f $STATE_FILE ]]; then
+    python - "$STATE_FILE" >>"$LOG_FILE" <<'PY' 2>/dev/null || true
+import json, sys
+try:
+    state = json.load(open(sys.argv[1]))
+except Exception:
+    raise SystemExit(0)
+phase = state.get("current_phase")
+if phase:
+    print(f"[dashboard] last installer phase: {phase}")
+PY
+  fi
   printf '%s%s' "$SHOW_CURSOR" "$CLEAR" >"$TTY_PATH"
   exit "$status"
 fi
 
+set +e
 render_finish
+finish_render_status=$?
+set -e
+if (( finish_render_status != 0 )); then
+  echo "[dashboard] finish screen render failed with status $finish_render_status; using fallback" >>"$LOG_FILE"
+  {
+    printf '%s%s' "$SHOW_CURSOR" "$CLEAR"
+    printf '\nFinished installing\n\n'
+  } >"$TTY_PATH" 2>/dev/null || true
+fi
+
 if [[ ${OMARCHY_UI_AUTO_REBOOT:-} == "no" ]]; then
   exit 0
 fi