diff --git a/desktopenvs/hyprlua/scripts/enroll-biometrics.sh b/desktopenvs/hyprlua/scripts/enroll-biometrics.sh
index 0e72859..09cfece 100755
--- a/desktopenvs/hyprlua/scripts/enroll-biometrics.sh
+++ b/desktopenvs/hyprlua/scripts/enroll-biometrics.sh
@@ -82,10 +82,9 @@ is_capture_device() {
         | grep -qE '^[[:space:]]*\[[0-9]+\]:'
 }
 
-# True for the v4l2loopback mirror presence-detect.sh feeds (card_label set in
-# etc-v4l2loopback/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf). It's not a real camera —
-# configuring howdy or presence detection to read *from* it would just point
-# them at their own mirrored output, so it's excluded from the picker.
+# True for a v4l2loopback virtual device (card type "presence-loopback"). Kept
+# as a defensive filter: presence-detect no longer uses a loopback, but should
+# one ever be present it isn't a real camera, so it's excluded from the picker.
 is_loopback_device() {
     local card
     card=$(v4l2-ctl --device="$1" --info 2>/dev/null \
diff --git a/etc-v4l2loopback/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf b/etc-v4l2loopback/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index 946b607..0000000
--- a/etc-v4l2loopback/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-# presence-detect.sh mirrors the real webcam into this virtual device so its
-# 20s-interval motion checks never contend with other apps (Zoom, howdy, ...)
-# for exclusive access to the physical camera.
-#
-# video_nr is fixed so the device always lands at /dev/video42, regardless of
-# how many physical webcam nodes (including UVC metadata nodes) get enumerated
-# first at boot.
-#
-# exclusive_caps=1 makes the device report standard single-purpose webcam
-# capabilities, which most capture apps (ffmpeg, OpenCV, browsers) expect.
-options v4l2loopback video_nr=42 card_label="presence-loopback" exclusive_caps=1
diff --git a/etc-v4l2loopback/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf b/etc-v4l2loopback/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index d394e47..0000000
--- a/etc-v4l2loopback/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-v4l2loopback
diff --git a/setup/modules/Desktop-Environments/hyprlua.sh b/setup/modules/Desktop-Environments/hyprlua.sh
index 1d07f8a..d09f216 100755
--- a/setup/modules/Desktop-Environments/hyprlua.sh
+++ b/setup/modules/Desktop-Environments/hyprlua.sh
@@ -13,8 +13,7 @@
 #   - Config source paths point to desktopenvs/hyprlua/
 #   - Device-specific overrides live in ~/.config/hypr/usr/ (Lua modules
 #     loaded via require("usr.*")), not at ~/.config/ root
-#   - Adds python-opencv + v4l-utils for the webcam presence-detection daemon,
-#     plus v4l2loopback-dkms so it mirrors the camera instead of holding it
+#   - Adds python-opencv + v4l-utils for the webcam presence-detection daemon
 #   - Tablet mode also installs evdev-right-click-emulation from AUR
 #   - gsettings sets prefer-dark globally (relevant for GTK apps under Hyprland)
 #   - qt6ct is NOT installed (hyprlua dropped it from the package list)
@@ -159,27 +158,9 @@ HYPRLUA_PACKAGES=(
 
     python-opencv         # OpenCV Python bindings; webcam presence-detection daemon
     v4l-utils             # Video4Linux2 tools for enumerating and configuring webcams
-    linux-headers         # kernel headers needed to DKMS-build v4l2loopback below
-    v4l2loopback-dkms      # virtual /dev/video device presence-detect.sh mirrors
-    v4l2loopback-utils     # module keeps mirroring across kernel updates via DKMS
 )
 sudo pacman -Syu --noconfirm --needed -- "${HYPRLUA_PACKAGES[@]}"
 
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# 2b. v4l2loopback camera mirror for presence-detect.sh
-# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# presence-detect.sh reads motion off this virtual device instead of the real
-# webcam, so its 20s-interval checks never contend with other apps (video
-# calls, howdy) for exclusive access to the physical camera. Config here is
-# static (fixed video_nr=42) — see etc-v4l2loopback/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf
-# for why. Loaded immediately so it's usable without a reboot.
-log "Deploying v4l2loopback camera-mirror config..."
-sudo install -Dm644 ~/Dotfiles/etc-v4l2loopback/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf \
-    /etc/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf
-sudo install -Dm644 ~/Dotfiles/etc-v4l2loopback/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf \
-    /etc/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf
-sudo modprobe v4l2loopback || warn "v4l2loopback did not load — presence-detect.sh will fall back to direct camera access until this is resolved (reboot may be required after a fresh DKMS build)."
-
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # 3. Enable essential services
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/setup/modules/Desktop-Environments/niri.sh b/setup/modules/Desktop-Environments/niri.sh
index 3fe244b..face325 100755
--- a/setup/modules/Desktop-Environments/niri.sh
+++ b/setup/modules/Desktop-Environments/niri.sh
@@ -28,21 +28,10 @@ sudo pacman -Syu --noconfirm --needed \
     pcmanfm-qt udisks2 ly kew \
     pavucontrol playerctl wf-recorder sound-theme-freedesktop \
     xinput jq python-opencv v4l-utils \
-    linux-headers v4l2loopback-dkms v4l2loopback-utils \
     gtk-layer-shell  # GTK3 wlr-layer-shell library EWW's gtk-layer-shell-sys
                      # crate links against; without it `cargo build` below
                      # fails at that build script with a pkg-config error.
 
-# 2b. v4l2loopback camera mirror for presence-detect.sh — see hyprlua.sh for
-# the full rationale (mirrors the real webcam into /dev/video42 so the daemon
-# never contends with other apps for exclusive camera access).
-log "Deploying v4l2loopback camera-mirror config..."
-sudo install -Dm644 ~/Dotfiles/etc-v4l2loopback/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf \
-    /etc/modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf
-sudo install -Dm644 ~/Dotfiles/etc-v4l2loopback/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf \
-    /etc/modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf
-sudo modprobe v4l2loopback || warn "v4l2loopback did not load — presence-detect.sh will fall back to direct camera access until this is resolved (reboot may be required after a fresh DKMS build)."
-
 # 3. Enable essential services
 log "Enabling essential services..."
 enable_service NetworkManager.service
diff --git a/sysupdate.sh b/sysupdate.sh
index c90e572..e1e73e9 100755
--- a/sysupdate.sh
+++ b/sysupdate.sh
@@ -760,62 +760,6 @@ _ensure_hyprshutdown() {
     fi
 }
 
-# Ensure the v4l2loopback camera mirror presence-detect.sh reads motion off is
-# installed, configured, and loaded. Not fatal to skip — presence-detect.sh
-# falls back to opening the real camera directly when /dev/video42 is absent —
-# but until this is set up the daemon is back to contending with other apps
-# (video calls, howdy) for the physical camera, which is the whole point of
-# the loopback mirror.
-_ensure_v4l2loopback() {
-    local de_dir; de_dir=$(_de_source_dir)
-    [[ -n "${de_dir:-}" && -f "$de_dir/scripts/presence-detect.sh" ]] || return 0
-
-    local -a needed=(linux-headers v4l2loopback-dkms v4l2loopback-utils)
-    local -a missing=()
-    for pkg in "${needed[@]}"; do
-        pacman -Qq "$pkg" &>/dev/null || missing+=("$pkg")
-    done
-
-    if [[ ${#missing[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
-        ok "v4l2loopback packages already installed"
-    else
-        warn "v4l2loopback camera mirror is missing packages: ${missing[*]}"
-        if ask "Install them now?"; then
-            if sudo pacman -S --noconfirm --needed "${missing[@]}"; then
-                ok "v4l2loopback packages installed"
-            else
-                warn "Failed to install some v4l2loopback packages"
-            fi
-        fi
-    fi
-
-    local src="$DOTFILES/etc-v4l2loopback"
-    if [[ ! -d "$src" ]]; then
-        warn "etc-v4l2loopback/ not found in dotfiles — skipping module config deploy"
-        return 0
-    fi
-
-    local changed=false f
-    for f in modules-load.d/v4l2loopback.conf modprobe.d/v4l2loopback.conf; do
-        if ! diff -q "$src/$f" "/etc/$f" &>/dev/null; then
-            sudo install -Dm644 "$src/$f" "/etc/$f" && changed=true
-        fi
-    done
-    if $changed; then
-        ok "v4l2loopback config deployed to /etc"
-    else
-        ok "v4l2loopback config already up to date"
-    fi
-
-    if lsmod | grep -q '^v4l2loopback'; then
-        ok "v4l2loopback module already loaded"
-    elif sudo modprobe v4l2loopback; then
-        ok "v4l2loopback module loaded"
-    else
-        warn "v4l2loopback failed to load — presence-detect.sh will fall back to direct camera access (a reboot may be required after a fresh DKMS build)"
-    fi
-}
-
 sync_configs() {
     section "Config Sync"
 
@@ -827,7 +771,6 @@ sync_configs() {
     _ensure_plymouth_regreet
     _ensure_astal_menu_deps
     _ensure_hyprshutdown
-    _ensure_v4l2loopback
 
     # ── Preferred: use the installed update-configs.sh ───────────────────────
     local cfg_script