diff --git a/start-all.ps1 b/start-all.ps1
index 793df93..dbcb77c 100644
--- a/start-all.ps1
+++ b/start-all.ps1
@@ -7,11 +7,22 @@
 $here = Split-Path -Parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path
 Set-Location $here
 
-if (Get-Command python -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {
-  python -m pip install --quiet -r (Join-Path $here "requirements.txt") 2>$null
-} else {
-  Write-Warning "Python not found - run setup.ps1 first."; exit 1
+# Resolve a real Python. Bare 'python'/'pythonw' are NOT on PATH in a scheduled-task
+# or SSH-launched context, so don't depend on Get-Command — fall back to known installs.
+$pyExe = $null; $pywExe = $null
+$cmd = Get-Command python -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+if ($cmd) { $pyExe = $cmd.Source }
+foreach ($c in @(
+    "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Programs\Python\Python312\python.exe",
+    "C:\Program Files\Python312\python.exe",
+    "C:\Program Files\Python311\python.exe",
+    "C:\Python312\python.exe")) {
+  if (-not $pyExe -and (Test-Path $c)) { $pyExe = $c }
 }
+if (-not $pyExe) { Write-Warning "Python not found - run setup.ps1 first."; exit 1 }
+$pywExe = Join-Path (Split-Path $pyExe) "pythonw.exe"
+if (-not (Test-Path $pywExe)) { $pywExe = $pyExe }
+& $pyExe -m pip install --quiet -r (Join-Path $here "requirements.txt") 2>$null
 
 # Headless intel watchers + the auto-update poller (run continuously, no interaction)
 # NOTE: eve_local_watcher disabled — on a multi-monitor desktop its OCR region reads
@@ -21,7 +32,7 @@ $watchers = @("eve_combat_watcher.py", "eve_chat_watcher.py", "eve_rock_watcher.
               "eve_audio_watcher.py", "eve_orehold_watcher.py", "eve_autoupdate.py")
 foreach ($w in $watchers) {
   $err = Join-Path $here ("_err_" + $w + ".log")
-  Start-Process pythonw -ArgumentList "`"$here\$w`"" -WorkingDirectory $here `
+  Start-Process $pywExe -ArgumentList "`"$here\$w`"" -WorkingDirectory $here `
       -WindowStyle Hidden -RedirectStandardError $err
   Write-Host "started $w"
 }