diff --git a/backend/data/release_digests.json b/backend/data/release_digests.json
index 3038653..666dc5c 100644
--- a/backend/data/release_digests.json
+++ b/backend/data/release_digests.json
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@
     "ShadowBroker_0.9.8_x64_en-US.msi": "fe22f9d51e4360d74c18a7250c2fbb9ed4fa4c7a884b3ac0d04a21115466386b"
   },
   "v0.9.81": {
-    "ShadowBroker_v0.9.81.zip": "31e5273253f329746ca2c4dc3f1da47e50a30981759b33056b3174e6474b9e4b",
-    "ShadowBroker_0.9.81_x64-setup.exe": "eca884b9d37eeccd0f11c91dcc6f6ae1b3609d9dee72bd73c37c9a427babfef2",
-    "ShadowBroker_0.9.81_x64_en-US.msi": "a45b177c26c95d2b28d71592d7147e88ff4e104865f214fde11249d311ec9e25"
+    "ShadowBroker_v0.9.81.zip": "af8c87ccdece8fbb9aadc6be63cce10d3fcba74e6d87ef83289dda6d555fd270",
+    "ShadowBroker_0.9.81_x64-setup.exe": "4e866fa0423c0c2470ed32f4809167a7815dc23ee7762b69e95681c1f3a28250",
+    "ShadowBroker_0.9.81_x64_en-US.msi": "8977c9a1c54e1f0d030436be9c4e3d81d766cc0080699eb747649095f360c7ff"
   }
 }
diff --git a/desktop-shell/tauri-skeleton/scripts/build-backend-runtime.cjs b/desktop-shell/tauri-skeleton/scripts/build-backend-runtime.cjs
index 6fcd685..eb9fb99 100644
--- a/desktop-shell/tauri-skeleton/scripts/build-backend-runtime.cjs
+++ b/desktop-shell/tauri-skeleton/scripts/build-backend-runtime.cjs
@@ -130,6 +130,45 @@ function stageBackendRuntime() {
   });
   stagePrivacyCoreArtifact();
   stageReleaseAttestation();
+  stageStartScripts();
+}
+
+/**
+ * Copy ``start.bat`` and ``start.sh`` from the repo root into the
+ * staged backend-runtime/ so they sit next to ``privacy_core.dll``.
+ *
+ * Why: an MSI/EXE/AppImage user who wants to launch via the dev-style
+ * scripts (because the desktop shell is failing, or they prefer the
+ * browser frontend at localhost:3000) shouldn't have to clone the
+ * source repo just to get the scripts. Having them inside the install
+ * directory also means the bundled ``privacy_core.dll`` fallback in
+ * those scripts resolves to the SAME directory as the script, which
+ * is exactly the layout the v0.9.81 script update is looking for.
+ *
+ * Tracked from issue #319: users who fell back to start.bat from
+ * their MSI install dir had to go fetch it from GitHub, then saw a
+ * scary "install Rust" warning because the script didn't know where
+ * the bundled DLL was. Bundling the script removes both problems.
+ */
+function stageStartScripts() {
+  const scripts = ['start.bat', 'start.sh'];
+  for (const name of scripts) {
+    const src = path.join(repoRoot, name);
+    if (!fs.existsSync(src)) {
+      console.warn(`backend-runtime staged without ${name} (not at repo root)`);
+      continue;
+    }
+    const dst = path.join(outputDir, name);
+    fs.copyFileSync(src, dst);
+    // Preserve executable bit on POSIX systems for the .sh script.
+    if (name.endsWith('.sh') && process.platform !== 'win32') {
+      try {
+        fs.chmodSync(dst, 0o755);
+      } catch {
+        /* best-effort; not fatal on filesystems that don't honor chmod */
+      }
+    }
+  }
 }
 
 function stagePrivacyCoreArtifact() {