diff --git a/src/install.rs b/src/install.rs
index b06447d..017ff0b 100644
--- a/src/install.rs
+++ b/src/install.rs
@@ -249,7 +249,14 @@ pub fn deploy(cli: &Cli, mode: Mode) -> Result<()> {
     )?;
 
     // ── The sidecar and its service ──────────────────────────────────────────
-    let sidecar = install_sidecar(cli, &bundle, &sidecar_asset, &layout, scratch.path())?;
+    let sidecar = install_sidecar(
+        cli,
+        &bundle,
+        &sidecar_asset,
+        &layout,
+        scratch.path(),
+        prior.as_ref(),
+    )?;
 
     // ── Record ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
     let record = build_record(
@@ -415,6 +422,7 @@ fn install_sidecar(
     asset: &bundle::Asset,
     layout: &paths::Layout,
     scratch: &Path,
+    prior: Option<&InstallRecord>,
 ) -> Result<Option<SidecarOutcome>> {
     ui::heading("uo-link sidecar");
 
@@ -539,7 +547,7 @@ fn install_sidecar(
                 name: name.clone(),
                 unit_path: unit_path.as_ref().map(|p| p.display().to_string()),
                 user: user.clone(),
-                user_created: *user_created,
+                user_created: *user_created || created_by_an_earlier_run(prior, user.as_deref()),
             })
         }
         service::Outcome::Skipped { reason, manual } => {
@@ -572,6 +580,29 @@ fn install_sidecar(
     }))
 }
 
+/// Whether an earlier run of this installer created the service account.
+///
+/// **`user_created` has to be sticky, and this is why.** `service::prepare` answers "did *this run*
+/// create the account", which is `false` on every run after the first — the account exists by then.
+/// Recording that verbatim makes the field describe the run instead of the state, with two
+/// consequences: `install.json` changes on an otherwise-identical second run (breaking Phase 1's
+/// "a second run writes nothing"), and `uninstall` — which removes only an account it created —
+/// silently leaves behind the very account this tool added. Both were caught on the first real
+/// systemd host the installer ever ran on, and neither is visible on Windows, where the SCM's
+/// virtual account is never "created" by us at all.
+///
+/// Matched on the account *name*: a record naming a different user describes a different account,
+/// and inheriting `true` from it would authorize deleting one this installer never made.
+fn created_by_an_earlier_run(prior: Option<&InstallRecord>, user: Option<&str>) -> bool {
+    let (Some(prior), Some(user)) = (prior, user) else {
+        return false;
+    };
+    prior
+        .link_record()
+        .and_then(|link| link.service)
+        .is_some_and(|service| service.user.as_deref() == Some(user) && service.user_created)
+}
+
 /// Fails the run before it writes anything if this process cannot write where it must.
 ///
 /// `create_dir_all` succeeding is not the same question as "can this process write here" — it
@@ -759,6 +790,61 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn an_account_this_installer_created_stays_recorded_as_created() {
+        // Caught on the first real systemd host: `prepare` reports "did THIS run create it", which
+        // is false from the second run on. Recording that verbatim rewrote install.json on an
+        // identical re-run and, worse, left `uninstall` believing the account was somebody else's.
+        let mut record = record_for("/opt/ServUO");
+        let service = |user: &str, created: bool| ServiceRecord {
+            kind: "systemd".into(),
+            name: "runicgateway-link.service".into(),
+            unit_path: Some("/etc/systemd/system/runicgateway-link.service".into()),
+            user: Some(user.into()),
+            user_created: created,
+        };
+        let with_service = |record: &mut InstallRecord, service: ServiceRecord| {
+            record.link = serde_json::to_value(LinkRecord {
+                repo: "RunicGateway/link".into(),
+                tag: "v1.1.0".into(),
+                version: "1.1.0".into(),
+                protocol: 3,
+                binary: BinaryRef {
+                    path: "/usr/bin/runicgateway-link".into(),
+                    sha256: "aa".into(),
+                },
+                config_path: "/etc/runicgateway/sidecar.toml".into(),
+                db_path: "/var/lib/runicgateway/uo-link.db".into(),
+                service: Some(service),
+            })
+            .ok();
+        };
+
+        with_service(&mut record, service("runicgateway", true));
+        assert!(created_by_an_earlier_run(
+            Some(&record),
+            Some("runicgateway")
+        ));
+
+        // An account this installer found already there stays somebody else's, forever.
+        with_service(&mut record, service("runicgateway", false));
+        assert!(!created_by_an_earlier_run(
+            Some(&record),
+            Some("runicgateway")
+        ));
+
+        // A record naming a different account says nothing about this one — inheriting `true`
+        // there would authorize deleting a user this installer never made.
+        with_service(&mut record, service("someone-else", true));
+        assert!(!created_by_an_earlier_run(
+            Some(&record),
+            Some("runicgateway")
+        ));
+
+        assert!(!created_by_an_earlier_run(None, Some("runicgateway")));
+        assert!(!created_by_an_earlier_run(Some(&record), None));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn a_record_for_this_tree_is_used() {
         let record = record_for("/opt/ServUO");