diff --git a/src/app_network.cpp b/src/app_network.cpp
index b97b86e..823b4c3 100644
--- a/src/app_network.cpp
+++ b/src/app_network.cpp
@@ -1137,21 +1137,18 @@ void App::switchToWallet(const std::string& walletFile, bool stopDaemonConfirmed
                 // as owned (stop/isRunning/exit behave normally for the next switch and app exit).
                 wallet_switch_phase_.store(static_cast<int>(WalletSwitchPhase::Starting));
                 if (daemon_controller_) daemon_controller_->clearExternalDaemonDetected();
-                // Retry the start. Right after the old node exits, its datadir lock can linger for a few
-                // seconds (the process is gone but the OS/BDB lock isn't released yet), so the first start
-                // hits "Cannot obtain a lock on data directory" and exits within the grace below. Retry —
-                // with the CORRECT -wallet, since active_wallet_file isn't reverted until we give up — until
-                // one survives (valid launch stays alive while it loads the block index/rescans, ~30-60s).
-                for (int attempt = 0; attempt < 6 && !ok && !shutting_down_; ++attempt) {
-                    if (attempt > 0) std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(2000));  // let the lock release
-                    if (daemon_controller_) daemon_controller_->resetCrashCount();                  // retry lock-crashes aren't real
-                    if (needRescan && daemon_controller_) daemon_controller_->setRescanOnNextStart(true);  // one-shot; re-arm each try
-                    if (shutting_down_) { ok = true; break; }
-                    if (!startEmbeddedDaemon()) continue;                          // couldn't spawn (port busy) — back off + retry
-                    std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(1500));  // grace: a datadir-lock crash exits within this
-                    ok = shutting_down_ || isEmbeddedDaemonRunning();
+                if (needRescan && daemon_controller_) daemon_controller_->setRescanOnNextStart(true);
+                // Start ONCE. Do NOT retry-spawn: a second start while the first is still shutting down leaves
+                // two dragonxd holding wallet.dat against each other (BDB "Failed to rename … Error"). The
+                // stopDaemonForWalletSwitch() wait already ensured the old node's process is gone, so a valid
+                // wallet opens cleanly; a bad/corrupt wallet exits during init and we revert.
+                ok = shutting_down_ ? true : startEmbeddedDaemon();
+                // A missing/corrupt wallet makes dragonxd exit during init — confirm the process survived a
+                // moment; if not, the wallet is bad. (A valid launch keeps the process alive while it syncs.)
+                if (ok && !shutting_down_) {
+                    std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(1500));
+                    if (!isEmbeddedDaemonRunning()) ok = false;
                 }
-                if (ok && daemon_controller_) daemon_controller_->resetCrashCount();  // clean slate for the survivor
                 // Process is up and staying up — now waiting for RPC to answer (onConnected closes the modal).
                 if (ok) wallet_switch_phase_.store(static_cast<int>(WalletSwitchPhase::Reconnecting));
             }
diff --git a/src/daemon/embedded_daemon.cpp b/src/daemon/embedded_daemon.cpp
index 17f2593..b334e99 100644
--- a/src/daemon/embedded_daemon.cpp
+++ b/src/daemon/embedded_daemon.cpp
@@ -683,18 +683,25 @@ static DWORD findProcessByName(const char* name)
 {
     HANDLE snap = CreateToolhelp32Snapshot(TH32CS_SNAPPROCESS, 0);
     if (snap == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) return 0;
-    
-    PROCESSENTRY32 entry;
+
+    // Use the explicit WIDE Toolhelp API + a wide compare so this is correct regardless of the UNICODE
+    // macro. (The non-suffixed PROCESSENTRY32/Process32First map to the wide variants when UNICODE is
+    // defined, in which case szExeFile is WCHAR[] and an ANSI _stricmp would compare garbage and NEVER
+    // match — silently making findProcessByName a no-op that returns 0 for a running process.)
+    wchar_t wname[MAX_PATH];
+    if (MultiByteToWideChar(CP_ACP, 0, name, -1, wname, MAX_PATH) == 0) { CloseHandle(snap); return 0; }
+
+    PROCESSENTRY32W entry;
     entry.dwSize = sizeof(entry);
-    
+
     DWORD pid = 0;
-    if (Process32First(snap, &entry)) {
+    if (Process32FirstW(snap, &entry)) {
         do {
-            if (_stricmp(entry.szExeFile, name) == 0) {
+            if (lstrcmpiW(entry.szExeFile, wname) == 0) {   // Win32 case-insensitive wide compare
                 pid = entry.th32ProcessID;
                 break;
             }
-        } while (Process32Next(snap, &entry));
+        } while (Process32NextW(snap, &entry));
     }
     CloseHandle(snap);
     return pid;