diff --git a/apps/desktop/scripts/set-exe-identity.mjs b/apps/desktop/scripts/set-exe-identity.mjs
index 091857a9b3..3c8d342b78 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/scripts/set-exe-identity.mjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/scripts/set-exe-identity.mjs
@@ -44,12 +44,20 @@ import { isMain } from './utils.mjs'
 
 // A real-time file scanner (AV/EDR) holds a short exclusive handle on a freshly
 // written exe; rcedit's resource commit then fails with "Unable to commit
-// changes" and succeeds seconds later on identical input. Retrying on ANY
-// rcedit failure keeps the shape simple — a permanent failure costs 3.5 s more
-// before after-pack.mjs swallows it. Delays sized to the field report: the
-// lock was still held 5 s after a first attempt in some runs.
+// changes" and succeeds seconds later on identical input. Delays sized to the
+// field report: the lock was still held 5 s after a first attempt in some runs.
 const RCEDIT_COMMIT_RETRY_DELAYS_MS = [500, 1000, 2000]
 
+// A failure to spawn the rcedit binary itself (missing or not executable) is
+// permanent; waiting 3.5 s on it only delays after-pack.mjs's warning. The npm
+// rcedit wrapper surfaces the spawn error as `originalError` on its rejection,
+// while a non-zero rcedit exit carries a numeric `code`.
+const RCEDIT_PERMANENT_SPAWN_CODES = new Set(['ENOENT', 'EACCES'])
+
+function isPermanentRceditFailure(err) {
+  return RCEDIT_PERMANENT_SPAWN_CODES.has(err?.originalError?.code ?? err?.code)
+}
+
 function wait(delay) {
   return new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, delay))
 }
@@ -91,7 +99,7 @@ async function stampExeIdentity(
       break
     } catch (err) {
       const delay = RCEDIT_COMMIT_RETRY_DELAYS_MS[attempt]
-      if (delay === undefined) {
+      if (delay === undefined || isPermanentRceditFailure(err)) {
         throw err
       }
       console.warn(`[set-exe-identity] rcedit failed; retrying in ${delay}ms (${err.message})`)
diff --git a/apps/desktop/scripts/set-exe-identity.test.mjs b/apps/desktop/scripts/set-exe-identity.test.mjs
index 68c8c6e644..56ad299be7 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/scripts/set-exe-identity.test.mjs
+++ b/apps/desktop/scripts/set-exe-identity.test.mjs
@@ -56,3 +56,32 @@ test('stops retrying after the bounded rcedit retry budget is exhausted', async
     fs.rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true })
   }
 })
+
+test('does not retry when the rcedit binary itself cannot be spawned (ENOENT/EACCES)', async () => {
+  // #112544 follow-up: the npm rcedit wrapper reports a spawn failure via
+  // `originalError`; that toolchain breakage is permanent, so the 3.5 s
+  // transient-lock retry budget must not be spent on it.
+  const { exe, root } = makeDesktopRoot()
+  let attempts = 0
+  const delays = []
+  const spawnFailure = Object.assign(new Error('Error executing command (rcedit-x64.exe):\nspawn rcedit-x64.exe ENOENT'), {
+    originalError: Object.assign(new Error('spawn rcedit-x64.exe ENOENT'), { code: 'ENOENT' })
+  })
+
+  try {
+    await assert.rejects(
+      stampExeIdentity(exe, root, {
+        rcedit: async () => {
+          attempts += 1
+          throw spawnFailure
+        },
+        sleep: async delay => delays.push(delay)
+      }),
+      /ENOENT/
+    )
+    assert.equal(attempts, 1)
+    assert.deepEqual(delays, [])
+  } finally {
+    fs.rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true })
+  }
+})