diff --git a/config/wal/preload-wallpapers.sh b/config/wal/preload-wallpapers.sh
index f23ee8e..5532851 100755
--- a/config/wal/preload-wallpapers.sh
+++ b/config/wal/preload-wallpapers.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # Preloads all theme wallpapers at startup so switching is instant.
-THEME_DIR="$HOME/.config/wal/colorschemes/dark"
+THEMES_DIR="$HOME/.active_profile/themes"
 
-for json in "$THEME_DIR"/*.json; do
-    wp=$(python3 -c "import json,sys; c=json.load(open('$json')); print(c.get('wallpaper','None'))")
+for theme_dir in "$THEMES_DIR"/*/; do
+    json="$theme_dir/colors.json"
+    [[ ! -f "$json" ]] && continue
+    wp=$(python3 -c "import json,os,sys; c=json.load(open('$json')); print(os.path.expanduser(c.get('wallpaper','None')))")
     if [[ -n "$wp" && "$wp" != "None" && -f "$wp" ]]; then
         hyprctl hyprpaper preload "$wp" 2>/dev/null || true
     fi
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index f96f91b..acb6559 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ if [[ -z "$current_theme" || ! "$current_theme" == "$PROFILE_DIR/themes/"* ]]; t
     echo "  active theme -> $default_theme"
 fi
 
+# Pre-create cache symlinks immediately so Hyprland never sees them missing
+# (avoids config errors if Hyprland re-reads its config during the dir swap)
+mkdir -p ~/.cache/wal
+[[ -f ~/.cache/wal/colors-hypr.conf ]] && ln -sf ~/.cache/wal/colors-hypr.conf ~/.config/hypr/colors.conf
+[[ -f ~/.cache/wal/waybar-style.css  ]] && ln -sf ~/.cache/wal/waybar-style.css  ~/.config/waybar/style.css
+[[ -f ~/.cache/wal/wofi-style.css    ]] && ln -sf ~/.cache/wal/wofi-style.css    ~/.config/wofi/style.css
+
 # Install global scripts to ~/.local/bin
 mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"
 for script in "$PROFILE_DIR/scripts/"*.sh; do