diff --git a/CursorLang.Tests/EndToEndTests.cs b/CursorLang.Tests/EndToEndTests.cs
index 1af88e6..a5d3bde 100644
--- a/CursorLang.Tests/EndToEndTests.cs
+++ b/CursorLang.Tests/EndToEndTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Reflection;
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+using System.Text;
 
 namespace CursorLang.Tests;
 
@@ -14,6 +16,9 @@ namespace CursorLang.Tests;
 ///
 /// If the application is already running in this session, the checks skip
 /// themselves: meddling with someone else's running instance is not their business.
+///
+/// They skip themselves where there is no desktop to show a window on either — on a
+/// build agent living as a Windows service, for one.
 /// </remarks>
 public sealed class EndToEndTests
 {
@@ -59,6 +64,16 @@ public sealed class EndToEndTests
     /// <summary>A started application that shuts down together with the check.</summary>
     private sealed class Launch : IDisposable
     {
+        private const int UOI_NAME = 2;
+        private const string InteractiveWindowStation = "WinSta0";
+
+        [DllImport("user32.dll")]
+        private static extern IntPtr GetProcessWindowStation();
+
+        [DllImport("user32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
+        private static extern bool GetUserObjectInformation(IntPtr hObj, int nIndex,
+            StringBuilder pvInfo, int nLength, out int lpnLengthNeeded);
+
         private Launch(Process process) => Process = process;
 
         internal Process Process { get; }
@@ -66,6 +81,11 @@ public sealed class EndToEndTests
         /// <summary>Starts the application first — making sure the place is free.</summary>
         internal static Launch Start()
         {
+            if (!HasInteractiveDesktop())
+            {
+                Assert.Skip("There is no interactive desktop here — the application has nowhere to show its window");
+            }
+
             if (Process.GetProcessesByName("CursorLang").Length > 0)
             {
                 Assert.Skip("The application is already running — this check keeps out of someone else's run");
@@ -116,6 +136,25 @@ public sealed class EndToEndTests
             return IntPtr.Zero;
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Whether there is a desktop here to show a window on. A service gets a
+        /// window station of its own — "Service-0x0-3e7$" and the like: a window can
+        /// be created there, yet nothing shows it. Only "WinSta0" is the interactive one.
+        /// </summary>
+        private static bool HasInteractiveDesktop()
+        {
+            IntPtr station = GetProcessWindowStation();
+            if (station == IntPtr.Zero)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            var name = new StringBuilder(256);
+
+            return GetUserObjectInformation(station, UOI_NAME, name, name.Capacity * sizeof(char), out _)
+                   && name.ToString().Equals(InteractiveWindowStation, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+        }
+
         private static string ExecutablePath()
         {
             string configured = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
diff --git a/CursorLang.Tests/Views/LayoutPopupWindowTests.cs b/CursorLang.Tests/Views/LayoutPopupWindowTests.cs
index 1a4b8ee..e94576a 100644
--- a/CursorLang.Tests/Views/LayoutPopupWindowTests.cs
+++ b/CursorLang.Tests/Views/LayoutPopupWindowTests.cs
@@ -124,9 +124,7 @@ public sealed class LayoutPopupWindowTests
         {
             var settings = new AppSettings
             {
-                PlacementMode = PopupPlacementMode.FixedPoint,
-                ScreenPosition = position,
-                ScreenMargin = 24,
+                PlacementMode = PopupPlacementMode.FixedPoint, ScreenPosition = position, ScreenMargin = 24,
             };
 
             using var popup = Popup.Create(settings);
@@ -160,9 +158,7 @@ public sealed class LayoutPopupWindowTests
         {
             var settings = new AppSettings
             {
-                PlacementMode = PopupPlacementMode.AtCursor,
-                CursorSide = AnchorSide.BottomRight,
-                CursorOffset = 16,
+                PlacementMode = PopupPlacementMode.AtCursor, CursorSide = AnchorSide.BottomRight, CursorOffset = 16,
             };
 
             using var popup = Popup.Create(settings);
@@ -213,23 +209,48 @@ public sealed class LayoutPopupWindowTests
         {
             var settings = new AppSettings
             {
-                PlacementMode = PopupPlacementMode.AtCaret,
-                CaretSide = AnchorSide.BottomRight,
-                CaretOffset = 8,
+                PlacementMode = PopupPlacementMode.AtCaret, CaretSide = AnchorSide.BottomRight, CaretOffset = 8,
             };
 
             using var popup = Popup.Create(settings);
             popup.ViewModel.ShortName = "RU";
 
-            PopupWindowNative.Point before = PopupWindowNative.GetCursorPosition();
-            popup.Window.ShowPopup();
+            PopupWindowNative.Point before = default;
+
+            for (int attempt = 0; attempt < 10; attempt++)
+            {
+                if (CaretNative.TryGetCaretRect() is not null)
+                {
+                    Assert.Skip("The foreground window reported a caret of its own");
+                }
+
+                before = PopupWindowNative.GetCursorPosition();
+                popup.Window.ShowPopup();
+                PopupWindowNative.Point after = PopupWindowNative.GetCursorPosition();
+
+                if (before.X == after.X && before.Y == after.Y)
+                {
+                    break;
+                }
+
+                if (attempt == 9)
+                {
+                    Assert.Skip("The cursor kept moving the whole time");
+                }
+            }
 
             PopupWindowNative.Rect bounds = WindowPlacementNative.TryGetBounds(popup.Handle)!.Value;
+            double scale = PopupWindowNative.GetScaleAt(before);
 
-            // A gentle check: a window holding the input focus may still have a caret
-            Assert.True(bounds.Right > bounds.Left);
-            Assert.True(bounds.Bottom > bounds.Top);
-            Assert.NotEqual(default, before);
+            PopupWindowNative.Point expected = PopupLayout.NearAnchor(
+                PopupLayout.AsAnchor(before),
+                settings.CaretSide,
+                PopupLayout.ToPixels(settings.CaretOffset, scale),
+                bounds.Right - bounds.Left,
+                bounds.Bottom - bounds.Top);
+
+            Assert.Equal(expected.X, bounds.Left);
+            Assert.Equal(expected.Y, bounds.Top);
         });
     }
 
@@ -266,8 +287,7 @@ public sealed class LayoutPopupWindowTests
         {
             var settings = new AppSettings
             {
-                PlacementMode = PopupPlacementMode.FixedPoint,
-                ScreenPosition = ScreenPosition.TopLeft,
+                PlacementMode = PopupPlacementMode.FixedPoint, ScreenPosition = ScreenPosition.TopLeft,
             };
 
             using var popup = Popup.Create(settings);
diff --git a/README.RU.md b/README.RU.md
index d61735a..8f30840 100644
--- a/README.RU.md
+++ b/README.RU.md
@@ -147,9 +147,11 @@ dotnet test --collect:"XPlat Code Coverage" --settings CursorLang.Tests\coverage
 
 Обоим пайплайнам нужен runner под Windows с меткой `windows-x64`, на нём —
 .NET 10 SDK и git-lfs. Выгрузка исходников тянет файлы LFS: без них иконка
-остаётся текстовой заглушкой и сборка на ней падает. Работать runner должен
-в интерактивном сеансе рабочего стола — тесты поднимают настоящие окна,
-а службе в нулевом сеансе ждать нечего.
+остаётся текстовой заглушкой и сборка на ней падает. Работать runner лучше
+в интерактивном сеансе рабочего стола: тесты поднимают настоящие окна, и те
+проверки, которым нужен свой рабочий стол — сквозные, а также те, что просят
+окно на переднем плане или каретку, — на runner’е, живущем службой в нулевом
+сеансе, пропускают себя: показать окно там негде.
 
 Пакет, который несёт релиз, загружается в Partner Center как есть. Identity
 берётся из переменных репозитория, а если те не заданы — из значений по
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 42c057d..02b2b21 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -145,9 +145,11 @@ say in it.
 
 Both pipelines ask for a Windows runner labelled `windows-x64` with the .NET 10
 SDK and git-lfs on it. The checkout pulls LFS files: without them the icon is a
-text pointer and the build fails on it. The runner has to work in an interactive
-desktop session — the tests raise real windows, and a service in session 0 has
-nothing for them to wait for.
+text pointer and the build fails on it. The runner is better off working in an
+interactive desktop session: the tests raise real windows, and the checks that
+need a desktop of their own — the end-to-end ones, and those that ask for the
+foreground window or the caret — skip themselves on a runner that lives as a
+service in session 0, where there is no desktop to show a window on.
 
 The package the release carries goes to Partner Center as it is. The identity
 comes from repository variables and falls back to the defaults of the script when