diff --git a/oracle/src/oraclewizard.cpp b/oracle/src/oraclewizard.cpp
index 946fd3ed3..dc8c7ecb3 100644
--- a/oracle/src/oraclewizard.cpp
+++ b/oracle/src/oraclewizard.cpp
@@ -143,9 +143,11 @@ void OracleWizard::reject()
 
     QWizard::reject();
     // A hidden wizard does not close the application's last visible window.
-    // Stop background refreshes explicitly so the hosting client receives failure.
+    // Stop background refreshes explicitly so the hosting client receives a verdict,
+    // using the same rule as main(): a reject after the database was written is still
+    // a successful update, only a reject that wrote nothing counts as a failure.
     if (backgroundMode) {
-        QCoreApplication::exit(1);
+        QCoreApplication::exit(hasSavedDatabase() ? 0 : 1);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/oracle/src/pages.cpp b/oracle/src/pages.cpp
index a22ef62e0..f5c38be1c 100644
--- a/oracle/src/pages.cpp
+++ b/oracle/src/pages.cpp
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 #include <QWizard>
 #include <QtConcurrentRun>
 #include <QtGlobal>
+#include <algorithm>
 #include <cstdio>
 #include <functional>
 #include <libcockatrice/settings/personal_settings.h>
@@ -170,7 +171,12 @@ LoadSetsResult loadSetsData(const QPointer<OracleImporter> &importer, QByteArray
         break;
     }
 
-    if (data.trimmed().startsWith("<")) {
+    // Test the first non-space byte in place: trimmed() would duplicate the whole
+    // payload, which on the plain-XML path is the largest download we handle.
+    const auto firstNonSpace = std::find_if_not(data.cbegin(), data.cend(),
+                                                [](char c) { return c == ' ' || c == '\t' || c == '\n' || c == '\r'; });
+    const bool looksLikeXml = firstNonSpace != data.cend() && *firstNonSpace == '<';
+    if (looksLikeXml) {
         result.errorMessage = OracleDatabase::validateXml(data);
         if (!result.errorMessage.isEmpty()) {
             return result;
@@ -916,7 +922,10 @@ bool SaveSetsPage::validatePage()
         wizard()->xmlData.clear();
     } else if (!wizard()->importer->saveToFile(fileName, wizard()->getCardSourceUrl(),
                                                wizard()->getCardSourceVersion())) {
-        return failSave(tr("The file could not be saved to %1").arg(fileName));
+        // The importer refuses to write a database whose import did not finish, and
+        // reports the reason there; do not dress an import failure up as a disk failure.
+        const QString importError = wizard()->importer->getImportError();
+        return failSave(importError.isEmpty() ? tr("The file could not be saved to %1").arg(fileName) : importError);
     }
 
     wizard()->markDatabaseSaved();
diff --git a/oracle/src/pagetemplates.cpp b/oracle/src/pagetemplates.cpp
index 3efbf192c..7e5f30bb7 100644
--- a/oracle/src/pagetemplates.cpp
+++ b/oracle/src/pagetemplates.cpp
@@ -185,9 +185,17 @@ void SimpleDownloadFilePage::actDownloadFinished()
     }
     QNetworkReply::NetworkError errorCode = reply->error();
     if (errorCode != QNetworkReply::NoError) {
-        QMessageBox::critical(this, tr("Error"), tr("Network error: %1.").arg(reply->errorString()));
-        wizard()->enableButtons();
+        const QString message = tr("Network error: %1.").arg(reply->errorString());
         reply->deleteLater();
+        // A hidden wizard cannot show a modal box: without an explicit stop it would sit
+        // here forever and the hosting client would wait with no timeout.
+        if (wizard()->backgroundMode) {
+            qWarning() << message;
+            wizard()->reject();
+            return;
+        }
+        QMessageBox::critical(this, tr("Error"), message);
+        wizard()->enableButtons();
         return;
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/carddatabase/carddatabase_test.cpp b/tests/carddatabase/carddatabase_test.cpp
index 22cbe9074..b54205f30 100644
--- a/tests/carddatabase/carddatabase_test.cpp
+++ b/tests/carddatabase/carddatabase_test.cpp
@@ -36,6 +36,12 @@
 #include <libcockatrice/utility/card_ref.h>
 #include <string>
 
+#ifdef Q_OS_UNIX
+#include <csignal>
+#include <sys/resource.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#endif
+
 namespace
 {
 
@@ -204,6 +210,64 @@ TEST(CardDatabaseTest, Xml4LocalizedDataRoundTrip)
     ASSERT_EQ(printings.first().getProperty("manacost"), "1R");
 }
 
+#ifdef Q_OS_UNIX
+/**
+ * @brief A failed write keeps the previously installed card database intact.
+ *
+ * This is the writer Oracle uses to install a refreshed database, so the truncation
+ * bug has to be covered here and not only through OracleDatabase::saveXml.
+ */
+TEST(CardDatabaseTest, Xml4ShortWriteKeepsInstalledFile)
+{
+    NoopCardSetPriorityController controller;
+    CardSetPtr set =
+        CardSet::newInstance(&controller, "TST", "Test Set", "expansion", QDate(), CardSet::PriorityPrimary);
+
+    QHash<QString, QString> props;
+    props["manacost"] = "1R";
+    PrintingInfo printing(set, LazyPropertiesHash(props));
+    SetToPrintingsMap setsInfo;
+    setsInfo["TST"].append(printing);
+
+    CardInfo::UiAttributes attributes = {.tableRow = 1};
+    CardInfoPtr card =
+        CardInfo::newInstance("Lightning Bolt", QString(1024, 'x'), false, {}, {}, {}, setsInfo, attributes);
+
+    SetNameMap sets;
+    sets.insert("TST", set);
+    CardNameMap cards;
+    cards.insert("Lightning Bolt", card);
+
+    QTemporaryDir tempDir;
+    ASSERT_TRUE(tempDir.isValid());
+    const QString fileName = tempDir.filePath("cards.xml");
+
+    QFile installed(fileName);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(installed.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly));
+    ASSERT_EQ(installed.write("installed database"), 18);
+    installed.close();
+
+    // A real filesystem write failure, isolated in the death-test child so the
+    // process-wide file limit never affects other cases or the parent runner.
+    ASSERT_EXIT(
+        {
+            std::signal(SIGXFSZ, SIG_IGN);
+            struct rlimit limit;
+            limit.rlim_cur = 128;
+            limit.rlim_max = 128;
+            if (setrlimit(RLIMIT_FSIZE, &limit) != 0) {
+                _exit(2);
+            }
+            CockatriceXml4Parser writer(&controller);
+            _exit(writer.saveToFile({}, sets, cards, fileName) ? 1 : 0);
+        },
+        ::testing::ExitedWithCode(0), "");
+
+    ASSERT_TRUE(installed.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly));
+    EXPECT_EQ(installed.readAll(), "installed database");
+}
+#endif
+
 /**
  * @brief Path provider serving a sandboxed copy of the test card database.
  */