diff --git a/src/app.cpp b/src/app.cpp
index 8fbaf62..190ef42 100644
--- a/src/app.cpp
+++ b/src/app.cpp
@@ -5769,6 +5769,7 @@ void App::setDaemonStatus(std::string s)
 
 bool App::startEmbeddedDaemon()
 {
+    if (shutting_down_) return false;   // exit in progress: never (re)launch the node
     if (!supportsEmbeddedDaemon()) {
         DEBUG_LOGF("Embedded daemon support unavailable in this build, not starting\n");
         return false;
diff --git a/src/app_network.cpp b/src/app_network.cpp
index 9f23ca1..7e17a8b 100644
--- a/src/app_network.cpp
+++ b/src/app_network.cpp
@@ -393,6 +393,7 @@ void App::tryConnect()
     // Lite builds have no full node / RPC daemon, so never run the RPC connection state machine
     // (it would just fail every tick). The lite controller drives the wallet; "online" status is
     // derived from it each frame in App::update(), which also gates the wallet UI (isConnected()).
+    if (shutting_down_) return;   // exit screen: no connect/start attempt, no spurious failure toast
     if (isLiteBuild()) return;
 
     // Catch a startup wallet salvage as soon as it appears in the node's output — independent of whether