diff --git a/packages/desktop-electron/src/main/index.ts b/packages/desktop-electron/src/main/index.ts
index 73b6a644e..4ee71ba2a 100644
--- a/packages/desktop-electron/src/main/index.ts
+++ b/packages/desktop-electron/src/main/index.ts
@@ -325,17 +325,13 @@ function wireMenu() {
       void checkForUpdates(true)
     },
     reload: () => mainWindow?.reload(),
-    relaunch: () => {
-      killSidecar()
-      wslServers.stopAll()
-      app.relaunch()
-      app.exit(0)
-    },
+    relaunch: () => relaunchApp(),
   })
 }
 
 registerIpcHandlers({
   killSidecar: () => killSidecar(),
+  relaunch: () => relaunchApp(),
   awaitInitialization: async (sendStep) => {
     sendStep(initStep)
     const listener = (step: InitStep) => sendStep(step)
@@ -386,6 +382,15 @@ function killSidecar() {
   server = null
 }
 
+function relaunchApp() {
+  // app.exit() skips before-quit / will-quit, so relaunch callers must
+  // explicitly stop sidecars here rather than relying on process hooks.
+  killSidecar()
+  wslServers.stopAll()
+  app.relaunch()
+  app.exit(0)
+}
+
 function ensureLoopbackNoProxy() {
   const loopback = ["127.0.0.1", "localhost", "::1"]
   const upsert = (key: string) => {
diff --git a/packages/desktop-electron/src/main/ipc.ts b/packages/desktop-electron/src/main/ipc.ts
index 5134866ba..c6d2c4fac 100644
--- a/packages/desktop-electron/src/main/ipc.ts
+++ b/packages/desktop-electron/src/main/ipc.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ const pickerFilters = (ext?: string[]) => {
 
 type Deps = {
   killSidecar: () => void
+  relaunch: () => void
   awaitInitialization: (sendStep: (step: InitStep) => void) => Promise<ServerReadyData>
   getWslServersState: () => Promise<WslServersState> | WslServersState
   onWslServersEvent: (listener: (event: WslServersEvent) => void) => () => void
@@ -227,8 +228,7 @@ export function registerIpcHandlers(deps: Deps) {
   })
 
   ipcMain.on("relaunch", () => {
-    app.relaunch()
-    app.exit(0)
+    deps.relaunch()
   })
 
   ipcMain.handle("get-zoom-factor", (event: IpcMainInvokeEvent) => event.sender.getZoomFactor())