diff --git a/launch_chffrplus.sh b/launch_chffrplus.sh
index 9c7df4090..087f48ee9 100755
--- a/launch_chffrplus.sh
+++ b/launch_chffrplus.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,114 @@ source "$BASEDIR/launch_env.sh"
 
 DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" >/dev/null && pwd )"
 
+ # --- BEGIN: auto-fix persist from squashfs -> ext4 (one-time, preserves identity) ---
+function persist_convert_if_needed {
+  LOG="/tmp/persist_fix.log"
+  {
+    echo "[persist-fix] ----- start $(date) -----"
+
+    # Guard: if we've already converted on this device, skip
+    if [ -f /data/.persist_converted ] || [ -f /persist/.converted_to_ext4 ]; then
+      echo "[persist-fix] Marker exists; skipping."
+      return 0
+    fi
+
+    # Discover persist device
+    DEV="$(blkid -t LABEL=persist -o device 2>/dev/null || true)"
+    if [ -z "$DEV" ] && [ -e /dev/disk/by-partlabel/persist ]; then
+      DEV="$(realpath /dev/disk/by-partlabel/persist)"
+    fi
+    if [ -z "$DEV" ]; then
+      # Fallback commonly used path
+      if lsblk -no PATH,LABEL | grep -E "persist$" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        DEV="$(lsblk -no PATH,LABEL | awk '$2=="persist"{print $1; exit}')"
+      else
+        DEV="/dev/sda2"
+      fi
+    fi
+    echo "[persist-fix] Using device: ${DEV}"
+
+    # Detect device filesystem type
+    FSTYPE="$(blkid -o value -s TYPE "$DEV" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+    echo "[persist-fix] Detected $DEV fstype='$FSTYPE'"
+    UNSQS="$DIR/third_party/bin/unsquashfs"
+
+    # Detect current /persist mount status & fstype
+    CUR_MNT_TYPE="$(mount | awk '$3==\"/persist\"{print $5}' | head -n1)"
+    if mountpoint -q /persist; then
+      echo "[persist-fix] /persist currently mounted as type='${CUR_MNT_TYPE}'"
+    else
+      echo "[persist-fix] /persist is not a mountpoint (empty dir)."
+    fi
+
+    # Only proceed on NEW devices: either /persist is not mounted OR is squashfs,
+    # AND the underlying persist partition is squashfs (factory RO image).
+    if { ! mountpoint -q /persist || [ "${CUR_MNT_TYPE}" = "squashfs" ]; } && [ "${FSTYPE}" = "squashfs" ]; then
+      echo "[persist-fix] NEW device detected (squashfs persist). Converting to ext4."
+
+      # Stream identity files using unsquashfs -cat directly
+      for f in id_rsa id_rsa.pub color_cal dongle_id; do
+        if sudo "$UNSQS" -cat "$DEV" "comma/$f" > "/data/$f" 2>/dev/null; then
+          echo "[persist-fix] Preserved $f"
+        else
+          echo "[persist-fix] $f not found in squashfs (ok, may not exist)."
+        fi
+      done
+
+      # (Optional) raw backup of the original partition image (once)
+      if [ ! -f /data/persist_backup.img ]; then
+        echo "[persist-fix] Creating raw backup of ${DEV} to /data/persist_backup.img"
+        sudo dd if="$DEV" of=/data/persist_backup.img bs=1M status=none || true
+        sync
+      fi
+
+      # Reformat persist as ext4 and label it
+      echo "[persist-fix] Formatting ${DEV} as ext4..."
+      if ! sudo mkfs.ext4 -F "$DEV"; then
+        echo "[persist-fix][ERROR] mkfs.ext4 failed on ${DEV}. Aborting."
+        return 0
+      fi
+      sudo e2label "$DEV" persist || true
+
+      # Mount the new ext4 persist RW
+      if ! sudo mount -t ext4 -o rw,discard "$DEV" /persist; then
+        echo "[persist-fix][ERROR] Failed to mount new ext4 persist. Aborting."
+        return 0
+      fi
+
+      # Recreate expected structure and restore identity
+      sudo mkdir -p /persist/{comma,params,tracking}
+      sudo chmod 755 /persist /persist/{comma,params,tracking}
+      for f in id_rsa id_rsa.pub color_cal dongle_id; do
+        if [ -f "/data/$f" ]; then
+          sudo cp -p "/data/$f" "/persist/comma/$f"
+        fi
+      done
+      if [ -f /persist/comma/id_rsa ]; then sudo chmod 600 /persist/comma/id_rsa; fi
+      sudo chown -R comma:comma /persist/ /persist/comma /persist/params /persist/tracking || true
+      sudo touch /persist/tracking/.lock
+
+      # Seed minimal params (only if not present)
+      [ -f /persist/params/HasAcceptedTerms ] || echo -n 1 | sudo tee /persist/params/HasAcceptedTerms >/dev/null
+      [ -f /persist/params/AlwaysOnDM ]      || echo -n 1 | sudo tee /persist/params/AlwaysOnDM      >/dev/null
+
+      # Mark complete so we don't run again; reboot once
+      echo "ext4" | sudo tee /persist/.converted_to_ext4 >/dev/null
+      sudo touch /data/.persist_converted
+      sync
+      echo "[persist-fix] Conversion complete. Rebooting once to finalize..."
+      sudo reboot
+    else
+      echo "[persist-fix] Device is not NEW/squashfs (persist already ext4 or mounted). Skipping."
+    fi
+
+    echo "[persist-fix] ----- end $(date) -----"
+  } >>"$LOG" 2>&1
+}
+# --- END: auto-fix persist from squashfs -> ext4 ---
+
 function agnos_init {
+  persist_convert_if_needed
   # TODO: move this to agnos
   sudo rm -f /data/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*.nmmeta
 
diff --git a/third_party/bin/unsquashfs b/third_party/bin/unsquashfs
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..0216206aa
Binary files /dev/null and b/third_party/bin/unsquashfs differ