diff --git a/.DS_Store b/.DS_Store
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..114b1c9
Binary files /dev/null and b/.DS_Store differ
diff --git a/iso/.DS_Store b/iso/.DS_Store
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cdc8eda
Binary files /dev/null and b/iso/.DS_Store differ
diff --git a/iso/builder/build-debug.sh b/iso/builder/build-debug.sh
index 48252e9..59abaea 100644
--- a/iso/builder/build-debug.sh
+++ b/iso/builder/build-debug.sh
@@ -103,7 +103,9 @@ rm -rf /var/tmp/bee-iso-work
 
 # Run from /var/tmp to avoid git repo context conflicts and to ensure enough scratch space.
 # mkinitfs/update-kernel use TMPDIR for initramfs build; tmpfs /tmp is only ~1GB.
+# mkimage.sh sources genapkovl-*.sh from CWD (not from ~/.mkimage), so copy it here too.
 export TMPDIR=/var/tmp
+cp "${BUILDER_DIR}/genapkovl-bee_debug.sh" /var/tmp/
 cd /var/tmp
 sh /usr/share/aports/scripts/mkimage.sh \
     --tag "v${ALPINE_VERSION}" \
diff --git a/iso/builder/genapkovl-bee_debug.sh b/iso/builder/genapkovl-bee_debug.sh
index 962e32d..64b1ec8 100755
--- a/iso/builder/genapkovl-bee_debug.sh
+++ b/iso/builder/genapkovl-bee_debug.sh
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ mkdir -p "$tmp/etc/dropbear" "$tmp/etc/conf.d"
 # -R: auto-generate host keys if missing
 # no dependency on networking service — bee-network handles DHCP independently
 makefile root:root 0644 "$tmp/etc/conf.d/dropbear" <<EOF
-DROPBEAR_OPTS="-R"
+DROPBEAR_OPTS="-R -B"
 EOF
 
 
diff --git a/iso/overlay-debug/usr/local/bin/bee-network.sh b/iso/overlay-debug/usr/local/bin/bee-network.sh
index 2670b0d..03edc93 100644
--- a/iso/overlay-debug/usr/local/bin/bee-network.sh
+++ b/iso/overlay-debug/usr/local/bin/bee-network.sh
@@ -22,13 +22,10 @@ for iface in $interfaces; do
     log "bringing up $iface"
     ip link set "$iface" up 2>/dev/null || { log "WARN: could not bring up $iface"; continue; }
 
-    # DHCP: 3 retries, 5s timeout per try, exit without blocking if no offer
-    if udhcpc -i "$iface" -t 3 -T 5 -n -q 2>/dev/null; then
-        IP=$(ip -4 addr show "$iface" | awk '/inet /{print $2}' | head -1)
-        log "OK: $iface got $IP"
-    else
-        log "WARN: $iface — no DHCP offer"
-    fi
+    # DHCP: run in background (-b) so udhcpc persists and retries when cable is connected later.
+    # -t 0: unlimited retries, -T 3: 3s per attempt.
+    udhcpc -i "$iface" -b -t 0 -T 3 -q 2>/dev/null &
+    log "DHCP started for $iface (background, will retry until lease acquired)"
 done
 
 log "done"