diff --git a/chromium-setup/emmc-provisioning/dashboard/cm4-dashboard.service b/chromium-setup/emmc-provisioning/dashboard/cm4-dashboard.service
index cb57b23..baf0dd2 100644
--- a/chromium-setup/emmc-provisioning/dashboard/cm4-dashboard.service
+++ b/chromium-setup/emmc-provisioning/dashboard/cm4-dashboard.service
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 -m flask --app app run --host=0.0.0.0 --port=5000
 Restart=on-failure
 RestartSec=5
 Environment=FLASK_ENV=production
+# Data dir (portal-files, backups, etc.); override in dashboard.env if needed
+Environment=CM4_PROVISIONING_DIR=/var/lib/cm4-provisioning
 EnvironmentFile=-/opt/cm4-provisioning/dashboard.env
 
 [Install]
diff --git a/chromium-setup/emmc-provisioning/scripts/deploy-dashboard-to-lxc.sh b/chromium-setup/emmc-provisioning/scripts/deploy-dashboard-to-lxc.sh
index 099ba10..c7a292c 100755
--- a/chromium-setup/emmc-provisioning/scripts/deploy-dashboard-to-lxc.sh
+++ b/chromium-setup/emmc-provisioning/scripts/deploy-dashboard-to-lxc.sh
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ for f in "$DASHBOARD_DIR"/templates/*; do
   [[ -f "$f" ]] && scp -q "$f" "$LXC:$REMOTE_DIR/templates/"
 done
 
-echo "Restarting cm4-dashboard service ..."
-ssh "$LXC" "systemctl restart cm4-dashboard && systemctl is-active --quiet cm4-dashboard && echo 'Dashboard restarted and running.'"
+echo "Installing systemd unit and restarting ..."
+ssh "$LXC" "cp $REMOTE_DIR/cm4-dashboard.service /etc/systemd/system/ && systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl restart cm4-dashboard && systemctl is-active --quiet cm4-dashboard && echo 'Dashboard restarted and running.'"
 
 echo "Done. Dashboard at http://$(echo "$LXC" | cut -d@ -f2):5000"