diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 383426803e2..0e8812c32e2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 
 ### Fixes
 
+- Onboarding/headless Linux daemon probe hardening: treat `systemctl --user is-enabled` probe failures as non-fatal during daemon install flow so onboarding no longer crashes on SSH/headless VPS environments before showing install guidance. (#37297) Thanks @acarbajal-web.
 - Memory/QMD mcporter Windows spawn hardening: when `mcporter.cmd` launch fails with `spawn EINVAL`, retry via bare `mcporter` shell resolution so QMD recall can continue instead of falling back to builtin memory search. (#27402) Thanks @i0ivi0i.
 - Tools/web_search Brave language-code validation: align `search_lang` handling with Brave-supported codes (including `zh-hans`, `zh-hant`, `en-gb`, and `pt-br`), map common alias inputs (`zh`, `ja`) to valid Brave values, and reject unsupported codes before upstream requests to prevent 422 failures. (#37260) Thanks @heyanming.
 - Models/openai-completions streaming compatibility: force `compat.supportsUsageInStreaming=false` for non-native OpenAI-compatible endpoints during model normalization, preventing usage-only stream chunks from triggering `choices[0]` parser crashes in provider streams. (#8714) Thanks @nonanon1.
diff --git a/src/commands/configure.daemon.test.ts b/src/commands/configure.daemon.test.ts
index 28c60273657..a5254a00cf9 100644
--- a/src/commands/configure.daemon.test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/configure.daemon.test.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ const loadConfig = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
 const resolveGatewayInstallToken = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
 const buildGatewayInstallPlan = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
 const note = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn());
+const serviceIsLoaded = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => false));
 const serviceInstall = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 const ensureSystemdUserLingerInteractive = vi.hoisted(() => vi.fn(async () => {}));
 
@@ -41,7 +42,7 @@ vi.mock("./daemon-runtime.js", () => ({
 
 vi.mock("../daemon/service.js", () => ({
   resolveGatewayService: vi.fn(() => ({
-    isLoaded: vi.fn(async () => false),
+    isLoaded: serviceIsLoaded,
     install: serviceInstall,
   })),
 }));
@@ -59,6 +60,8 @@ const { maybeInstallDaemon } = await import("./configure.daemon.js");
 describe("maybeInstallDaemon", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     vi.clearAllMocks();
+    serviceIsLoaded.mockResolvedValue(false);
+    serviceInstall.mockResolvedValue(undefined);
     loadConfig.mockReturnValue({});
     resolveGatewayInstallToken.mockResolvedValue({
       token: undefined,
@@ -107,4 +110,19 @@ describe("maybeInstallDaemon", () => {
     expect(buildGatewayInstallPlan).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(serviceInstall).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
+
+  it("continues daemon install flow when service status probe throws", async () => {
+    serviceIsLoaded.mockRejectedValueOnce(
+      new Error("systemctl is-enabled unavailable: Failed to connect to bus"),
+    );
+
+    await expect(
+      maybeInstallDaemon({
+        runtime: { log: vi.fn(), error: vi.fn(), exit: vi.fn() },
+        port: 18789,
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+
+    expect(serviceInstall).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/commands/configure.daemon.ts b/src/commands/configure.daemon.ts
index f282cfc850e..2be58f19a64 100644
--- a/src/commands/configure.daemon.ts
+++ b/src/commands/configure.daemon.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,12 @@ export async function maybeInstallDaemon(params: {
   daemonRuntime?: GatewayDaemonRuntime;
 }) {
   const service = resolveGatewayService();
-  const loaded = await service.isLoaded({ env: process.env });
+  let loaded = false;
+  try {
+    loaded = await service.isLoaded({ env: process.env });
+  } catch {
+    loaded = false;
+  }
   let shouldCheckLinger = false;
   let shouldInstall = true;
   let daemonRuntime = params.daemonRuntime ?? DEFAULT_GATEWAY_DAEMON_RUNTIME;