diff --git a/unraid-1/basement.template.xml b/unraid-1/basement.template.xml
index e3950ec..59251e5 100644
--- a/unraid-1/basement.template.xml
+++ b/unraid-1/basement.template.xml
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ Publicly served at https://basement.pq.io via Caddy on classe (reverse proxy →
   <Config Name="BASEMENT_DRIVER_GARAGE_ADMIN_TOKEN" Target="BASEMENT_DRIVER_GARAGE_ADMIN_TOKEN" Default="" Mode="" Description="Bearer token for Garage admin API. Pre-filled by install.sh (same value as the garage container's GARAGE_ADMIN_TOKEN)." Type="Variable" Display="always" Required="true" Mask="true">__GARAGE_ADMIN_TOKEN__</Config>
 
   <Config Name="BASEMENT_DRIVER" Target="BASEMENT_DRIVER" Default="garage" Mode="" Description="Storage backend driver. 'garage' for this deployment." Type="Variable" Display="always" Required="true" Mask="false">garage</Config>
-  <Config Name="BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER" Target="BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER" Default="" Mode="" Description="Login username for the basement UI. Pick something; you'll log in with this + the password whose hash goes below." Type="Variable" Display="always" Required="true" Mask="false"/>
-  <Config Name="BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH" Target="BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH" Default="" Mode="" Description="Bcrypt hash of the admin password ($2a$/$2b$ format). Generate with: htpasswd -bnBC 12 '' yourpassword | tr -d ':\n'" Type="Variable" Display="always" Required="true" Mask="true"/>
+  <Config Name="BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER" Target="BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER" Default="" Mode="" Description="Login username for the basement UI. Pick something; you'll log in with this + the password whose hash goes below. install.sh preserves whatever you set here across re-runs." Type="Variable" Display="always" Required="true" Mask="false">__BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER__</Config>
+  <Config Name="BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH" Target="BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH" Default="" Mode="" Description="Bcrypt hash of the admin password ($2a$/$2b$ format). Generate with: docker run --rm caddy:alpine caddy hash-password --plaintext 'yourpassword'. install.sh preserves whatever you set here across re-runs." Type="Variable" Display="always" Required="true" Mask="true">__BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH__</Config>
   <Config Name="BASEMENT_JWT_SECRET" Target="BASEMENT_JWT_SECRET" Default="" Mode="" Description="HMAC secret for signing UI session JWTs. Pre-filled by install.sh from secrets.env (auto-generated, persisted across re-runs)." Type="Variable" Display="always" Required="true" Mask="true">__BASEMENT_JWT_SECRET__</Config>
 </Container>
diff --git a/unraid-1/install.sh b/unraid-1/install.sh
index ce69522..6189170 100755
--- a/unraid-1/install.sh
+++ b/unraid-1/install.sh
@@ -102,11 +102,30 @@ fetch_template \
   -e "s|__GARAGE_ADMIN_TOKEN__|$GARAGE_ADMIN_TOKEN|" \
   -e "s|__GARAGE_METRICS_TOKEN__|$GARAGE_METRICS_TOKEN|"
 
+# Preserve user-set fields (admin user + password hash) across re-runs:
+# pull whatever's currently in the existing my-basement.xml so we can
+# sub it back into the freshly-fetched template. First-time installs
+# substitute to empty (placeholders disappear) and the user fills them
+# in via the Unraid UI; subsequent re-runs keep what they set.
+PREV_BASEMENT_USER=""
+PREV_BASEMENT_HASH=""
+if [ -f "$TEMPLATE_DIR/my-basement.xml" ]; then
+  PREV_BASEMENT_USER=$(sed -n 's|.*<Config Name="BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER"[^>]*>\([^<]*\)</Config>.*|\1|p' "$TEMPLATE_DIR/my-basement.xml" | head -1)
+  PREV_BASEMENT_HASH=$(sed -n 's|.*<Config Name="BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH"[^>]*>\([^<]*\)</Config>.*|\1|p' "$TEMPLATE_DIR/my-basement.xml" | head -1)
+  # Don't carry forward the literal placeholder from an early-run template
+  [ "$PREV_BASEMENT_USER" = "__BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER__" ] && PREV_BASEMENT_USER=""
+  [ "$PREV_BASEMENT_HASH" = "__BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH__" ] && PREV_BASEMENT_HASH=""
+  [ -n "$PREV_BASEMENT_USER" ] && say "preserving BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER from existing template"
+  [ -n "$PREV_BASEMENT_HASH" ] && say "preserving BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH from existing template"
+fi
+
 fetch_template \
   "$BASE/basement.template.xml" \
   "$TEMPLATE_DIR/my-basement.xml" \
   -e "s|__GARAGE_ADMIN_TOKEN__|$GARAGE_ADMIN_TOKEN|" \
-  -e "s|__BASEMENT_JWT_SECRET__|$BASEMENT_JWT_SECRET|"
+  -e "s|__BASEMENT_JWT_SECRET__|$BASEMENT_JWT_SECRET|" \
+  -e "s|__BASEMENT_ADMIN_USER__|$PREV_BASEMENT_USER|" \
+  -e "s|__BASEMENT_ADMIN_PASSWORD_HASH__|$PREV_BASEMENT_HASH|"
 
 fetch_template \
   "$BASE/watchtower.template.xml" \