diff --git a/dream-server/extensions/services/dashboard-api/routers/updates.py b/dream-server/extensions/services/dashboard-api/routers/updates.py
index bb6875406..85d4f2f22 100644
--- a/dream-server/extensions/services/dashboard-api/routers/updates.py
+++ b/dream-server/extensions/services/dashboard-api/routers/updates.py
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ async def get_update_dry_run():
     latest: Optional[str] = None
     changelog_url: Optional[str] = None
     update_available = False
+    version_check_error: Optional[str] = None
 
     try:
         req = urllib.request.Request(
@@ -241,8 +242,8 @@ async def get_update_dry_run():
                 def _parts(v: str) -> list[int]:
                     return ([int(x) for x in v.split(".") if x.isdigit()][:3] + [0, 0, 0])[:3]
                 update_available = _parts(latest) > _parts(current)
-    except (urllib.error.URLError, urllib.error.HTTPError, OSError, json.JSONDecodeError, ValueError):
-        pass
+    except (urllib.error.URLError, urllib.error.HTTPError, OSError, json.JSONDecodeError, ValueError) as e:
+        version_check_error = f"Could not reach GitHub: {e}"
 
     # ── configured image tags from compose files ──────────────────────────────
     images: list[str] = []
@@ -276,6 +277,7 @@ def _parts(v: str) -> list[int]:
         "changelog_url": changelog_url,
         "images": images,
         "env_keys": env_snapshot,
+        "version_check_error": version_check_error,
     }
 
 
diff --git a/dream-server/extensions/services/token-spy/main.py b/dream-server/extensions/services/token-spy/main.py
index dd1029151..7aaca6436 100644
--- a/dream-server/extensions/services/token-spy/main.py
+++ b/dream-server/extensions/services/token-spy/main.py
@@ -712,6 +712,7 @@ async def _handle_non_streaming(client, raw_body, headers, model, sys_analysis,
     try:
         data = resp.json()
     except Exception:
+        log.warning("Failed to parse Anthropic response JSON — token usage will be recorded as zero")
         data = {}
 
     resp_usage = data.get("usage", {})
@@ -942,6 +943,7 @@ async def _handle_openai_non_streaming(client, raw_body, headers, model, sys_ana
     try:
         data = resp.json()
     except Exception:
+        log.warning("Failed to parse OpenAI response JSON — token usage will be recorded as zero")
         data = {}
 
     resp_usage = data.get("usage", {})
@@ -1184,7 +1186,8 @@ def _get_remote_session_status(agent: str) -> dict:
         "                    history_chars += sum(len(str(x)) for x in c)\n"
         "                elif isinstance(c, str):\n"
         "                    history_chars += len(c)\n"
-        "        except: pass\n"
+        "        except Exception:\n"
+        "            pass  # skip corrupt JSONL lines\n"
         "    print(json.dumps({'turns': turns, 'chars': history_chars, 'tool_results': tool_results,"
         " 'file_bytes': os.path.getsize(largest), 'total_lines': len(lines), 'files': len(files)}))"
     )
@@ -1266,7 +1269,8 @@ def _kill_remote_session(agent: str, reason: str = "dashboard") -> dict:
         "        for k in list(data.keys()):\n"
         "            if isinstance(data[k], dict) and data[k].get('sessionId') == sid: del data[k]\n"
         "        with open(sj, 'w') as fh: json.dump(data, fh, indent=2)\n"
-        "    except: pass\n"
+        "    except Exception as e:\n"
+        "        print(json.dumps({'warn': 'sessions.json update failed', 'error': str(e)}))\n"
         "    print(json.dumps({'action': 'killed', 'session_id': sid, 'size_bytes': size}))"
     )
     try:
diff --git a/dream-server/installers/phases/06-directories.sh b/dream-server/installers/phases/06-directories.sh
index 71eaef4c6..ddcbc5ad4 100755
--- a/dream-server/installers/phases/06-directories.sh
+++ b/dream-server/installers/phases/06-directories.sh
@@ -94,12 +94,16 @@ Fix with: sudo chown -R \$(id -u):\$(id -g) $INSTALL_DIR/config $INSTALL_DIR/dat
                 "$SCRIPT_DIR/" "$INSTALL_DIR/"
         else
             # Fallback: cp -r everything, then remove runtime artifacts
-            cp -r "$SCRIPT_DIR"/* "$INSTALL_DIR/" 2>/dev/null || true
-            cp "$SCRIPT_DIR"/.gitignore "$INSTALL_DIR/" 2>/dev/null || true
-            rm -rf "$INSTALL_DIR/.git" 2>/dev/null || true
+            if ! cp -r "$SCRIPT_DIR"/* "$INSTALL_DIR/" 2>>"$LOG_FILE"; then
+                warn "Source copy incomplete — some files may be missing"
+            fi
+            if ! cp "$SCRIPT_DIR"/.gitignore "$INSTALL_DIR/" 2>>"$LOG_FILE"; then
+                warn "Failed to copy .gitignore"
+            fi
+            rm -rf "$INSTALL_DIR/.git" 2>>"$LOG_FILE" || true
         fi
         # Ensure scripts are executable
-        chmod +x "$INSTALL_DIR"/*.sh "$INSTALL_DIR"/scripts/*.sh "$INSTALL_DIR"/dream-cli 2>/dev/null || true
+        chmod +x "$INSTALL_DIR"/*.sh "$INSTALL_DIR"/scripts/*.sh "$INSTALL_DIR"/dream-cli 2>>"$LOG_FILE" || warn "Some scripts may not be executable — verify after install"
         ai_ok "Source files installed"
     else
         log "Running in-place (source == install dir), skipping file copy"
@@ -124,7 +128,9 @@ Fix with: sudo chown -R \$(id -u):\$(id -g) $INSTALL_DIR/config $INSTALL_DIR/dat
             cp "$SCRIPT_DIR/config/openclaw/$OPENCLAW_CONFIG" "$INSTALL_DIR/config/openclaw/openclaw.json"
         else
             warn "OpenClaw config $OPENCLAW_CONFIG not found, using default"
-            cp "$SCRIPT_DIR/config/openclaw/openclaw.json.example" "$INSTALL_DIR/config/openclaw/openclaw.json" 2>/dev/null || true
+            if ! cp "$SCRIPT_DIR/config/openclaw/openclaw.json.example" "$INSTALL_DIR/config/openclaw/openclaw.json" 2>>"$LOG_FILE"; then
+                warn "Failed to copy OpenClaw default config — you may need to create it manually"
+            fi
         fi
         # Resolve provider name/URL before any sed replacements that depend on them
         OPENCLAW_PROVIDER_NAME="${OPENCLAW_PROVIDER_NAME_DEFAULT}"
diff --git a/dream-server/installers/phases/11-services.sh b/dream-server/installers/phases/11-services.sh
index dd4922bb1..b0db85014 100755
--- a/dream-server/installers/phases/11-services.sh
+++ b/dream-server/installers/phases/11-services.sh
@@ -256,10 +256,21 @@ MODELS_INI_EOF
         if [[ "$_BOOTSTRAP_ACTIVE" == "true" ]]; then
             _env_file="$INSTALL_DIR/.env"
             if [[ -f "$_env_file" ]]; then
-                awk -v v="$GGUF_FILE" '{ if (index($0, "GGUF_FILE=") == 1) print "GGUF_FILE=" v; else print }'                     "$_env_file" > "${_env_file}.tmp" && cat "${_env_file}.tmp" > "$_env_file" && rm -f "${_env_file}.tmp"
-                awk -v v="$LLM_MODEL" '{ if (index($0, "LLM_MODEL=") == 1) print "LLM_MODEL=" v; else print }'                     "$_env_file" > "${_env_file}.tmp" && cat "${_env_file}.tmp" > "$_env_file" && rm -f "${_env_file}.tmp"
-                awk -v v="$MAX_CONTEXT" '{ if (index($0, "MAX_CONTEXT=") == 1) print "MAX_CONTEXT=" v; else print }'                     "$_env_file" > "${_env_file}.tmp" && cat "${_env_file}.tmp" > "$_env_file" && rm -f "${_env_file}.tmp"
-                ai_ok "Patched .env for bootstrap model ($GGUF_FILE)"
+                _env_patch_ok=true
+                for _key_val in "GGUF_FILE=$GGUF_FILE" "LLM_MODEL=$LLM_MODEL" "MAX_CONTEXT=$MAX_CONTEXT"; do
+                    _key="${_key_val%%=*}"
+                    _val="${_key_val#*=}"
+                    if ! awk -v v="$_val" '{ if (index($0, "'"$_key"'=") == 1) print "'"$_key"'=" v; else print }' \
+                        "$_env_file" > "${_env_file}.tmp" 2>>"$LOG_FILE" \
+                        && cat "${_env_file}.tmp" > "$_env_file" 2>>"$LOG_FILE" \
+                        && rm -f "${_env_file}.tmp"; then
+                        _env_patch_ok=false
+                        warn "Failed to patch $_key in .env"
+                    fi
+                done
+                if [[ "$_env_patch_ok" == "true" ]]; then
+                    ai_ok "Patched .env for bootstrap model ($GGUF_FILE)"
+                fi
             fi
         fi
     fi