diff --git a/src/lib/windows-secret-acl.ts b/src/lib/windows-secret-acl.ts
index e5ce2eee9..fa898c3b2 100644
--- a/src/lib/windows-secret-acl.ts
+++ b/src/lib/windows-secret-acl.ts
@@ -363,7 +363,11 @@ async function describeAclStateAfterTimeoutAsync(targetPath: string, deadline: n
 function timeoutMemoKey(targetPath: string, opts: HardenOptions): string {
   // Destination-path memo only (issue #612). Never a parent directory — directory ACLs
   // are not authoritative for newly created temps.
-  return opts.timeoutMemoKey ?? targetPath;
+  //
+  // Namespace by required-ness (#766): a soft `required:false` timeout during loadConfig
+  // must not poison a later `required:true` management-token harden of the same path.
+  const base = opts.timeoutMemoKey ?? targetPath;
+  return `${opts.required ? "required" : "optional"}:${base}`;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/server/management-auth.ts b/src/server/management-auth.ts
index 52fd46401..164b843f0 100644
--- a/src/server/management-auth.ts
+++ b/src/server/management-auth.ts
@@ -56,7 +56,11 @@ function assertSafeDirectory(path: string): void {
   if (!stat.isDirectory() || stat.isSymbolicLink()) throw new Error("management token directory is not a regular directory");
   chmodSync(path, 0o700);
   const hardened = hardenSecretDir(path, { required: true });
-  if (!hardened.ok) throw new Error("management token directory ACL hardening did not complete");
+  if (!hardened.ok) {
+    throw new Error(
+      "management token directory ACL hardening did not complete; set OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN to use an environment token instead of a file-backed token",
+    );
+  }
 }
 
 function readExistingToken(path: string): string {
@@ -66,7 +70,11 @@ function readExistingToken(path: string): string {
   }
   chmodSync(path, 0o600);
   const hardened = hardenSecretPath(path, { required: true });
-  if (!hardened.ok) throw new Error("management token file ACL hardening did not complete");
+  if (!hardened.ok) {
+    throw new Error(
+      "management token file ACL hardening did not complete; set OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN to use an environment token instead of a file-backed token",
+    );
+  }
   const token = readFileSync(path, "utf8").trim();
   if (!/^ocx_admin_[A-Za-z0-9_-]{43}$/.test(token)) throw new Error("management token file is invalid");
   return token;
@@ -90,7 +98,11 @@ function createTokenFile(path: string): string {
     fd = null;
     chmodSync(temporary, 0o600);
     const temporaryHardened = hardenSecretPath(temporary, { required: true });
-    if (!temporaryHardened.ok) throw new Error("management token temporary ACL hardening did not complete");
+    if (!temporaryHardened.ok) {
+      throw new Error(
+        "management token temporary ACL hardening did not complete; set OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN to use an environment token instead of a file-backed token",
+      );
+    }
     try {
       linkSync(temporary, path);
       linked = true;
@@ -99,7 +111,11 @@ function createTokenFile(path: string): string {
       throw error;
     }
     const finalHardened = hardenSecretPath(path, { required: true });
-    if (!finalHardened.ok) throw new Error("management token file ACL hardening did not complete");
+    if (!finalHardened.ok) {
+      throw new Error(
+        "management token file ACL hardening did not complete; set OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN to use an environment token instead of a file-backed token",
+      );
+    }
     return token;
   } catch (error) {
     if (linked) removeBestEffort(path);
@@ -190,7 +206,11 @@ export function requireManagementAuth(
   config?: OcxConfig,
 ): Response | null {
   if (!state.available) {
-    return Response.json({ error: "management API unavailable" }, { status: 503 });
+    return Response.json({
+      error: "management API unavailable",
+      reason: state.reason,
+      hint: "Set OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN to bypass file-backed admin token ACL hardening",
+    }, { status: 503 });
   }
   const actual = req.headers.get("x-opencodex-api-key")?.trim()
     || req.headers.get("authorization")?.replace(/^Bearer\s+/i, "").trim();
diff --git a/tests/server-management-auth.test.ts b/tests/server-management-auth.test.ts
index 1484eb2eb..322c1b60c 100644
--- a/tests/server-management-auth.test.ts
+++ b/tests/server-management-auth.test.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
   resetHardenedStateForTests,
   setIcaclsRunnerForTests,
   setPlatformForTests,
+  hardenSecretDir,
 } from "../src/lib/windows-secret-acl";
 
 const previousHome = process.env.OPENCODEX_HOME;
@@ -204,7 +205,11 @@ describe("management and data-plane credential separation", () => {
         headers: { "x-opencodex-api-key": "ocx_admin_unhardened" },
       });
       expect(management.status).toBe(503);
-      expect(await management.json()).toEqual({ error: "management API unavailable" });
+      const body = await management.json() as { error?: string; hint?: string; reason?: string };
+      expect(body.error).toBe("management API unavailable");
+      expect(body.hint).toContain("OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN");
+      expect(typeof body.reason).toBe("string");
+      expect(body.reason!.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
     } finally {
       await server.stop(true);
     }
@@ -436,4 +441,99 @@ describe("management and data-plane credential separation", () => {
       await server.stop(true);
     }
   });
+
+  test("directory ACL timeout keeps management unavailable and names OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN", async () => {
+    delete process.env.OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN;
+    saveConfig(remoteConfig());
+    const adminToken = `ocx_admin_${"d".repeat(43)}`;
+    writeFileSync(join(testHome, "admin-api-token"), `${adminToken}\n`, { mode: 0o600 });
+    process.env.USERNAME ??= "tester";
+    setPlatformForTests("win32");
+    setIcaclsRunnerForTests(args => {
+      const target = args[0] ?? "";
+      if (target.endsWith("admin-api-token")) {
+        return { success: true, exitCode: 0, timedOut: false, stdout: "" };
+      }
+      return { success: false, exitCode: null, timedOut: true, stdout: "" };
+    });
+    resetHardenedStateForTests();
+    const state = initializeManagementAuthState(remoteConfig());
+    expect(state.available).toBe(false);
+    if (state.available) return;
+    expect(state.reason).toContain("OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN");
+
+    const server = startServer(0);
+    try {
+      const settings = await fetch(new URL("/api/settings", server.url), {
+        headers: { "x-opencodex-api-key": adminToken },
+      });
+      expect(settings.status).toBe(503);
+      const body = await settings.json() as { error?: string; hint?: string; reason?: string };
+      expect(body.error).toBe("management API unavailable");
+      expect(body.hint).toContain("OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN");
+      expect(body.reason).toContain("OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN");
+      expect((await fetch(new URL("/healthz", server.url))).status).toBe(200);
+    } finally {
+      await server.stop(true);
+    }
+  });
+
+  test("required management harden retries after a soft loadConfig directory timeout", async () => {
+    delete process.env.OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN;
+    saveConfig(remoteConfig());
+    const adminToken = `ocx_admin_${"f".repeat(43)}`;
+    writeFileSync(join(testHome, "admin-api-token"), `${adminToken}\n`, { mode: 0o600 });
+    process.env.USERNAME ??= "tester";
+    setPlatformForTests("win32");
+
+    let softPhase = true;
+    let requiredPhaseCalls = 0;
+    setIcaclsRunnerForTests(args => {
+      const target = args[0] ?? "";
+      if (target.endsWith("admin-api-token")) {
+        return { success: true, exitCode: 0, timedOut: false, stdout: "" };
+      }
+      if (softPhase) {
+        return { success: false, exitCode: null, timedOut: true, stdout: "" };
+      }
+      requiredPhaseCalls += 1;
+      return { success: true, exitCode: 0, timedOut: false, stdout: "" };
+    });
+    resetHardenedStateForTests();
+
+    const soft = hardenSecretDir(testHome, { required: false });
+    expect(soft.ok).toBe(false);
+    expect(soft.diagnostics).toMatch(/timed out|budget exhausted|previous attempt/i);
+
+    softPhase = false;
+    const state = initializeManagementAuthState(remoteConfig());
+    expect(state.available).toBe(true);
+    if (!state.available) return;
+    expect(state.source).toBe("file");
+    expect(requiredPhaseCalls).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  });
+
+  test("OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN bypasses file-backed ACL hardening", async () => {
+    process.env.OPENCODEX_ADMIN_AUTH_TOKEN = "env-admin-secret";
+    saveConfig(remoteConfig());
+    process.env.USERNAME ??= "tester";
+    setPlatformForTests("win32");
+    setIcaclsRunnerForTests(() => ({ success: false, exitCode: null, timedOut: true, stdout: "" }));
+    resetHardenedStateForTests();
+
+    const state = initializeManagementAuthState(remoteConfig());
+    expect(state.available).toBe(true);
+    if (!state.available) return;
+    expect(state.source).toBe("environment");
+
+    const server = startServer(0);
+    try {
+      const management = await fetch(new URL("/api/config", server.url), {
+        headers: { "x-opencodex-api-key": "env-admin-secret" },
+      });
+      expect(management.status).toBe(200);
+    } finally {
+      await server.stop(true);
+    }
+  });
 });
diff --git a/tests/storage-cleanup.test.ts b/tests/storage-cleanup.test.ts
index eecdf5e19..1403dc7a9 100644
--- a/tests/storage-cleanup.test.ts
+++ b/tests/storage-cleanup.test.ts
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ describe("previewArchivedCleanup", () => {
       "archived_sessions/rollout-new.jsonl",
     ]);
     expect(listed.some(c => c.relPath.includes("sessions/2026"))).toBe(false);
-  });
+  }, { timeout: STORE_BUDGET_MS });
 
   test("percent selects oldest subset and includes digest", () => {
     home = buildHome();
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ describe("previewArchivedCleanup", () => {
     expect(preview.bytes).toBe(preview.candidates[0]!.bytes);
     expect(preview.digest).toBe(computePreviewDigest(preview.candidates, 50));
     expect(preview.digest).toMatch(/^[a-f0-9]{64}$/);
-  });
+  }, { timeout: STORE_BUDGET_MS });
 
   test("treats .jsonl and .jsonl.zst as one logical rollout", () => {
     home = buildHome();
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@ describe("previewArchivedCleanup", () => {
       "archived_sessions/rollout-old.jsonl.zst",
     ]);
     expect(listed.filter(c => c.relPath.includes("rollout-old"))).toHaveLength(1);
-  });
+  }, { timeout: STORE_BUDGET_MS });
 });
 
 describe("normalizeArchivedRolloutPath", () => {
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ describe("normalizeArchivedRolloutPath", () => {
     // ISO timestamps in filenames must not be treated as Windows drive letters.
     expect(normalizeArchivedRolloutPath("archived_sessions/rollout-2026-01-01T10:00:00.jsonl", home))
       .toBe("archived_sessions/rollout-2026-01-01T10:00:00.jsonl");
-  });
+  }, { timeout: STORE_BUDGET_MS });
 });
 
 describe("executeArchivedCleanup", () => {
diff --git a/tests/windows-secret-acl.test.ts b/tests/windows-secret-acl.test.ts
index 95871b44b..55c445474 100644
--- a/tests/windows-secret-acl.test.ts
+++ b/tests/windows-secret-acl.test.ts
@@ -548,6 +548,21 @@ describe("async hardenSecretPath (issue #612)", () => {
     expect(calls).toBe(0); // destination-keyed memo; not a parent-directory shortcut
   });
 
+  test("optional timeout memo does not poison a later required harden of the same path", () => {
+    setIcaclsRunnerForTests(() => timeout);
+    const first = hardenSecretPath(secretFile(), { required: false });
+    expect(first.ok).toBe(false);
+
+    let calls = 0;
+    setIcaclsRunnerForTests(() => {
+      calls += 1;
+      return ok;
+    });
+    const second = hardenSecretPath(secretFile(), { required: true });
+    expect(second.ok).toBe(true);
+    expect(calls).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  });
+
   test("async harden still grants owner before inheritance removal", async () => {
     const steps: string[] = [];
     setAsyncIcaclsRunnerForTests(async args => {