diff --git a/install.bat b/install.bat
index a0d17e1..0a04962 100644
--- a/install.bat
+++ b/install.bat
@@ -178,20 +178,21 @@ if exist "%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin\tesseract.exe" (
     echo Renamed broken conda tesseract.exe
 )
 
-:: Install working tesseract 5.5.0 via winget (conda version crashes)
+:: Install winget tesseract as optional pytesseract fallback.
+:: tesserocr (conda DLLs + bundled wheel) is the primary OCR backend and works
+:: on both Win10 and Win11 without this step. winget is not guaranteed on Win10
+:: so this is best-effort only — the bot runs fine without it.
 if not exist "C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tesseract.exe" (
-    echo Installing tesseract-OCR via winget...
+    echo Installing tesseract-OCR via winget ^(optional pytesseract fallback^)...
     winget install --id tesseract-ocr.tesseract --silent --accept-package-agreements --accept-source-agreements 2>nul
     if %errorlevel% neq 0 (
-        echo WARNING: winget tesseract install failed. pytesseract may not work.
+        echo   winget not available or install failed -- skipping ^(tesserocr unaffected^)
     )
 )
 if exist "C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tesseract.exe" (
-    echo Tesseract OCR found: C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tesseract.exe
+    echo   Tesseract exe found -- pytesseract fallback is available
 ) else (
-    echo WARNING: Tesseract OCR not found after install attempt.
-    echo   pytesseract gem-count OCR will not work until Tesseract is installed.
-    echo   Download manually from: https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract/releases
+    echo   Tesseract exe not found -- pytesseract fallback inactive ^(tesserocr is primary^)
 )
 
 :: Ensure tesseract.dll exists (conda may name it tesseract41.dll)
@@ -225,17 +226,6 @@ if exist "dependencies\tesserocr-2.5.2-cp310-cp310-win_amd64.whl" (
     exit /b 1
 )
 
-:: Verify pytesseract can locate and call the winget tesseract binary.
-:: ocr.py reads PYTESSERACT_TESSERACT_CMD at import time (Bug 14 fix), so no
-:: source-patching is needed — we just confirm the chain works end-to-end here.
-echo.
-echo Verifying pytesseract OCR...
-"%CONDA_EXE%" run -n botty python -c "import pytesseract, os; cmd=r'C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tesseract.exe'; pytesseract.pytesseract.tesseract_cmd=cmd; v=pytesseract.get_tesseract_version(); print('  pytesseract OK: tesseract ' + str(v))" 2>nul
-if %errorlevel% neq 0 (
-    echo   WARNING: pytesseract could not call tesseract. Gem-count OCR will not work.
-    echo   Ensure C:\Program Files\Tesseract-OCR\tesseract.exe exists ^(run as admin^).
-)
-
 :: Set PATH for tesseract DLL before testing
 set "TESS_PATH=%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin;%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\lib;%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\DLLs;%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Scripts"
 
@@ -243,7 +233,7 @@ set "TESS_PATH=%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin;%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\lib;%BOTTY_EN
 echo.
 echo Verifying all dependencies...
 set "ALL_OK=1"
-for %%M in (cv2 mss numpy tesserocr pytesseract discord transitions rapidfuzz) do (
+for %%M in (cv2 mss numpy tesserocr discord transitions rapidfuzz) do (
     set "PATH=%TESS_PATH%;%PATH%"
     "%CONDA_EXE%" run -n botty python -c "import %%M" >nul 2>&1
     if %errorlevel% neq 0 (
@@ -254,6 +244,18 @@ for %%M in (cv2 mss numpy tesserocr pytesseract discord transitions rapidfuzz) d
     )
 )
 
+:: Smoke-test tesserocr end-to-end: DLL load + tessdata access.
+echo.
+echo Smoke-testing tesserocr OCR...
+set "PATH=%TESS_PATH%;%PATH%"
+"%CONDA_EXE%" run -n botty python -c "import sys; sys.path.insert(0,'src'); import os; os.add_dll_directory(r'%BOTTY_ENV_DIR%\Library\bin'); from tesserocr import PyTessBaseAPI, OEM; api=PyTessBaseAPI(psm=7,oem=OEM.LSTM_ONLY,path='assets/tessdata',lang='hover-eng_inconsolata_inv_th_fast'); api.End(); print('  tesserocr OK')" 2>nul
+if %errorlevel% neq 0 (
+    echo   FAILED: tesserocr could not open tessdata model.
+    echo   Item hover OCR and gem-count OCR will not work.
+    echo   Check that conda tesseract DLLs and bundled wheel installed correctly above.
+    set "ALL_OK=0"
+)
+
 if "%ALL_OK%"=="1" (
     echo.
     echo All dependencies verified.