diff --git a/install.bat b/install.bat
index ef69e4a..99c934a 100644
--- a/install.bat
+++ b/install.bat
@@ -298,8 +298,27 @@ set "TESS_PATH=%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin;%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\lib;%BOTTY_EN
 :: Remove any existing pip/wheel tesserocr
 "%PYTHON%" -m pip uninstall tesserocr -y >nul 2>&1
 
-:: conda tesseract 4.x provides leptonica-1.78.0.dll (MSVC) which tesseract52.dll needs
-"%CONDA_EXE%" install -n botty "tesseract=4.*" -c conda-forge -y >nul 2>&1
+:: conda tesseract 4.x provides leptonica-1.78.0.dll (MSVC) which tesseract52.dll needs.
+:: libdeflate is required explicitly: the libtiff that ships with tesseract 4.x
+:: imports libdeflate, and without it the whole chain below fails to load.
+"%CONDA_EXE%" install -n botty "tesseract=4.*" libdeflate -c conda-forge -y >nul 2>&1
+
+:: libdeflate.dll compatibility alias.
+:: THIS IS WHAT MAKES tesserocr WORK. The DLL chain is:
+::   tesserocr.pyd -> tesseract52.dll -> leptonica-1.78.0.dll -> tiff.dll -> libdeflate.dll
+:: Current conda-forge libdeflate (>=1.20) installs the library as "deflate.dll",
+:: but the older tiff.dll from the tesseract=4.x stack still imports the previous
+:: name "libdeflate.dll". Nothing provides that name, so tiff.dll fails to load,
+:: and every DLL above it in the chain fails with WinError 126 ("The specified
+:: module could not be found") -- which surfaced as tesserocr being permanently
+:: unavailable and the bot silently falling back to the slower pytesseract.
+:: Copying deflate.dll to the old name satisfies the import; the exported symbols
+:: are the same library, verified by tesserocr initialising and running real OCR.
+if not exist "%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin\libdeflate.dll" (
+    if exist "%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin\deflate.dll" (
+        copy /y "%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin\deflate.dll" "%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin\libdeflate.dll" >nul
+    )
+)
 
 :: conda tesseract.exe crashes on Win10 and Win11 — disable it, keep the DLLs
 if exist "%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin\tesseract.exe" (