diff --git a/mc-service-setup.sh b/mc-service-setup.sh
index cc004b2..922b675 100755
--- a/mc-service-setup.sh
+++ b/mc-service-setup.sh
@@ -76,16 +76,25 @@ jver="$(java -version 2>&1 | head -1 | grep -oE '"[0-9]+' | tr -d '"' || echo 0)
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------ user ----
 
+CREATED_USER=0
 if ! getent passwd "$MCUSER" >/dev/null; then
     info "creating system user $MCUSER"
     useradd --system --home-dir "$SHARE" --shell /usr/sbin/nologin \
             --comment "Minecraft server" "$MCUSER"
+    CREATED_USER=1
 else
     info "user $MCUSER already exists"
 fi
 
-info "setting ownership of $SHARE to $MCUSER"
-chown -R "$MCUSER":"$MCUSER" "$SHARE"
+# A blanket chown -R belongs to first-time setup only. On a re-run it would
+# take the pack and the generated guides away from whoever authors them, and
+# the next run of packwiz-setup.sh could no longer overwrite its own files.
+if (( CREATED_USER )); then
+    info "setting ownership of $SHARE to $MCUSER"
+    chown -R "$MCUSER":"$MCUSER" "$SHARE"
+else
+    info "user pre-existed — leaving ownership under $SHARE alone"
+fi
 
 # The server creates mods/ on first run, but the pack setup needs it to exist
 # before that. Setgid so jars dropped in by either side stay group-readable.
@@ -162,6 +171,8 @@ if [ -n "$NFVER" ]; then
     rm -rf "$tmp"; trap - EXIT
 fi
 
+[ -d "$SHARE/libraries" ] && chown -R "$MCUSER":"$MCUSER" "$SHARE/libraries"
+
 # Find the generated arg file — its path carries the NeoForge version, so
 # detect it rather than hardcoding one that goes stale on the next upgrade.
 ARGS_FILE="$(find "$SHARE/libraries/net/neoforged/neoforge" -name unix_args.txt 2>/dev/null | sort -V | tail -1 || true)"
diff --git a/packwiz-setup.sh b/packwiz-setup.sh
index c1cc5fa..ffbff84 100755
--- a/packwiz-setup.sh
+++ b/packwiz-setup.sh
@@ -582,6 +582,12 @@ if (( GUIDES )); then
     info "writing player setup guides to $WEBROOT"
     for os in windows linux; do
         out="$WEBROOT/setup-$os-packwiz.html"
+        # Remove first: a previous run may have left the file owned by another
+        # user, and truncating that fails even in a directory we can write.
+        if [ -e "$out" ] && [ ! -w "$out" ]; then
+            rm -f "$out" || die "cannot replace $out — owned by $(stat -c '%U' "$out")
+     fix with: sudo rm -f $out"
+        fi
         write_guide "$os" "$out"
         chmod 644 "$out"
         printf '    %s  ->  %s/setup-%s-packwiz.html\n' "$out" "$SITE_URL" "$os"