diff --git a/internal/daemon/sshd_config_test.go b/internal/daemon/sshd_config_test.go
index 4135856..5b89e2f 100644
--- a/internal/daemon/sshd_config_test.go
+++ b/internal/daemon/sshd_config_test.go
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ func TestSshdGuestConfig_Hardened(t *testing.T) {
 	// Things that must NOT appear. Each has a history and a reason.
 	mustNotContain := map[string]string{
 		"LogLevel DEBUG3": "was debug leftover; floods journald",
-		"StrictModes no":  "masked a /root perm drift; real fix is in normaliseHomeDirPerms",
+		"StrictModes no":  "masked a /root perm drift; real fix is EnsureExt4RootPerms at authsync time",
 		// Blanket "PermitRootLogin yes" (without prohibit-password)
 		// would re-enable password root login if something else
 		// flipped PasswordAuthentication back to yes.
diff --git a/internal/daemon/vm_authsync.go b/internal/daemon/vm_authsync.go
index 32a7eb4..b9a429e 100644
--- a/internal/daemon/vm_authsync.go
+++ b/internal/daemon/vm_authsync.go
@@ -85,25 +85,6 @@ func provisionAuthorizedKey(ctx context.Context, runner system.CommandRunner, im
 	return system.WriteExt4FileOwned(ctx, runner, imagePath, "/.ssh/authorized_keys", 0o600, 0, 0, merged)
 }
 
-// normaliseHomeDirPerms forces the home-directory mount point to
-// 0755 root:root. sshd's StrictModes (the default, re-enabled after
-// banger stopped shipping "StrictModes no") rejects authorized_keys
-// if the user's HOME — here the work-disk filesystem root — is
-// group/other-writable or owned by anyone other than root. mkfs.ext4
-// normally creates an ext4 root dir at 0755 root:root, but older
-// work-seed images may have drifted, and `cp -a` on a non-standard
-// source can carry weird bits forward. Forcing a known-good state
-// here is cheap insurance.
-func normaliseHomeDirPerms(ctx context.Context, runner system.CommandRunner, workMount string) error {
-	if _, err := runner.RunSudo(ctx, "chown", "0:0", workMount); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	if _, err := runner.RunSudo(ctx, "chmod", "0755", workMount); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
 func (s *WorkspaceService) ensureGitIdentityOnWorkDisk(ctx context.Context, vm *model.VMRecord) error {
 	runner := s.runner
 	if runner == nil {
diff --git a/internal/daemon/vm_disk.go b/internal/daemon/vm_disk.go
index 660676d..e4ff38c 100644
--- a/internal/daemon/vm_disk.go
+++ b/internal/daemon/vm_disk.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -177,27 +176,3 @@ func sshdGuestConfig() string {
 	}, "\n")
 }
 
-// flattenNestedWorkHome is a package-level helper used by the image,
-// workspace-sync, and VM-disk paths, so it takes the runner explicitly
-// rather than belonging to any one service struct.
-func flattenNestedWorkHome(ctx context.Context, runner system.CommandRunner, workMount string) error {
-	nestedHome := filepath.Join(workMount, "root")
-	if !exists(nestedHome) {
-		return nil
-	}
-	if _, err := runner.RunSudo(ctx, "chmod", "755", nestedHome); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	entries, err := os.ReadDir(nestedHome)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	for _, entry := range entries {
-		sourcePath := filepath.Join(nestedHome, entry.Name())
-		if _, err := runner.RunSudo(ctx, "cp", "-a", sourcePath, workMount+"/"); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
-	_, err = runner.RunSudo(ctx, "rm", "-rf", nestedHome)
-	return err
-}
diff --git a/internal/daemon/vm_test.go b/internal/daemon/vm_test.go
index 0c6733d..bbd793a 100644
--- a/internal/daemon/vm_test.go
+++ b/internal/daemon/vm_test.go
@@ -817,36 +817,6 @@ func TestSetVMDiskResizeFailsPreflightWhenToolsMissing(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestFlattenNestedWorkHomeCopiesEntriesIndividually(t *testing.T) {
-	t.Parallel()
-
-	workMount := t.TempDir()
-	nestedHome := filepath.Join(workMount, "root")
-	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(nestedHome, ".ssh"), 0o755); err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("MkdirAll(.ssh): %v", err)
-	}
-	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(nestedHome, "notes.txt"), []byte("seed"), 0o644); err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("WriteFile(notes.txt): %v", err)
-	}
-
-	runner := &scriptedRunner{
-		t: t,
-		steps: []runnerStep{
-			sudoStep("", nil, "chmod", "755", nestedHome),
-			sudoStep("", nil, "cp", "-a", filepath.Join(nestedHome, ".ssh"), workMount+"/"),
-			sudoStep("", nil, "cp", "-a", filepath.Join(nestedHome, "notes.txt"), workMount+"/"),
-			sudoStep("", nil, "rm", "-rf", nestedHome),
-		},
-	}
-	d := &Daemon{runner: runner}
-	wireServices(d)
-
-	if err := flattenNestedWorkHome(context.Background(), d.runner, workMount); err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("flattenNestedWorkHome: %v", err)
-	}
-	runner.assertExhausted()
-}
-
 func TestEnsureGitIdentityOnWorkDiskCopiesHostGlobalIdentity(t *testing.T) {
 	if _, err := exec.LookPath("git"); err != nil {
 		t.Skip("git not installed")