diff --git a/api/router.ts b/api/router.ts
index d0f7916..b7cc36a 100644
--- a/api/router.ts
+++ b/api/router.ts
@@ -235,8 +235,22 @@ router.post('/_config/media/create', async (ctx) => {
  * section or a "not connected yet" message, and that answer contains no credential.
  */
 router.get('/status', async (ctx) => {
+  const user = ctx.get('user');
   const connection = await readConnection();
-  return ctx.json({ configured: connection.configured, lastProbeOk: connection.lastProbeOk });
+  const settings = await readSettings(user.email);
+
+  /*
+    `rootSet` is a BOOLEAN and this route is deliberately not owner-only.
+
+    The nav has to know whether Media can be opened, and every account that can see the section needs
+    that answer. The path itself stays behind `/_config`, which is owner-only — this says only whether
+    one has been chosen, which reveals nothing about the machine.
+  */
+  return ctx.json({
+    configured: connection.configured,
+    lastProbeOk: connection.lastProbeOk,
+    rootSet: settings.isSet,
+  });
 });
 
 /**
diff --git a/manifest.ts b/manifest.ts
index 1bf7634..cf8a7a1 100644
--- a/manifest.ts
+++ b/manifest.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ import type { PluginManifest } from '@@/plugins/manifest';
  */
 export const manifest: PluginManifest = {
   publisher: 'officerdev',
-  version: '2026.08.29.19',
+  version: '2026.08.29.20',
   platform: '>=1.0.0',
 
   label: 'Fofos',
diff --git a/web/DetailPanel.tsx b/web/DetailPanel.tsx
index 63c3150..5219b27 100644
--- a/web/DetailPanel.tsx
+++ b/web/DetailPanel.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { useSearchParams } from 'react-router';
-import { DEFAULT_SECTION, isSectionKey, sectionFor, type SectionKey } from './sections';
+import { DEFAULT_SECTION, isSectionKey, sectionFor, sectionOpen, type SectionKey } from './sections';
 import { AdministrationPanel } from './AdministrationPanel';
 import { MediaPanel } from './MediaPanel';
 import { MessagesPanel } from './MessagesPanel';
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ export const DetailPanel = () => {
   const raw = params.get('section');
   const selected: SectionKey = isSectionKey(raw) ? raw : DEFAULT_SECTION;
 
-  const { ready, loading } = useReady();
+  const { ready, rootSet, loading } = useReady();
 
   if (loading) {
     return <div className="flex size-full items-center justify-center p-6 text-sm text-muted-foreground">Loading…</div>;
@@ -59,7 +59,13 @@ export const DetailPanel = () => {
     is the part the old overlay could not do: the form used to appear under whichever row happened to
     be highlighted, so it read as that section being broken rather than as one step not done yet.
   */
-  const current = sectionFor(ready ? selected : 'administration');
+  /*
+    A section that cannot be opened sends you to Administration, because that is where every requirement
+    is satisfied. Asked per section rather than by one flag: Media is reachable the moment a root
+    location exists, long before fofos is connected.
+  */
+  const wanted = sectionFor(selected);
+  const current = sectionOpen(wanted, { ready, rootSet }) ? wanted : sectionFor('administration');
 
   const Panel = current.built ? PANELS[current.key] : undefined;
 
diff --git a/web/NavPanel.tsx b/web/NavPanel.tsx
index f7992d0..626c638 100644
--- a/web/NavPanel.tsx
+++ b/web/NavPanel.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { Link, useSearchParams } from 'react-router';
 import { Lock } from 'lucide-react';
-import { DEFAULT_SECTION, SECTIONS, isSectionKey, type SectionKey } from './sections';
+import { DEFAULT_SECTION, SECTIONS, isSectionKey, sectionOpen, type SectionKey } from './sections';
 import { useReady } from './useReady';
 
 /**
@@ -51,12 +51,13 @@ export const NavPanel = () => {
   const [params] = useSearchParams();
   const raw = params.get('section');
   const active: SectionKey = isSectionKey(raw) ? raw : DEFAULT_SECTION;
-  const { ready } = useReady();
+  const { ready, rootSet } = useReady();
 
   const renderRow = (section: (typeof SECTIONS)[number]) => {
     const Icon = section.icon;
-    // Administration is never locked — it is the way OUT of being locked.
-    const locked = !ready && !section.pinned;
+    // Each section asks its own question now — Media wants a root location, the site's pages want a
+    // connection, Administration wants nothing because it is the way out of both.
+    const locked = !sectionOpen(section, { ready, rootSet });
 
     // Everything else in the URL is preserved. This is one screen of a workspace, and the global
     // query string carries state that belongs to the shell rather than to this panel.
@@ -110,7 +111,11 @@ export const NavPanel = () => {
       <div className="mt-auto flex flex-col border-t border-border">
         {/* Said once, here, rather than on nine dimmed rows. Without it a locked nav reads as broken
             rather than as one step not done — the rows go grey and nothing says why or what to do. */}
-        {!ready && <p className="px-3 pt-2.5 text-xs text-muted-foreground">Connect fofos below to open the rest.</p>}
+        {!ready && (
+          <p className="px-3 pt-2.5 text-xs text-muted-foreground">
+            {rootSet ? 'Connect fofos below to open the rest.' : 'Set a root location below to begin.'}
+          </p>
+        )}
         {SECTIONS.filter((section) => section.pinned).map(renderRow)}
       </div>
     </nav>
diff --git a/web/sections.ts b/web/sections.ts
index 4ab1a0a..5a1291e 100644
--- a/web/sections.ts
+++ b/web/sections.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,18 @@ export type Section = {
   /** The fofos path this reads, relative to the plugin's mount. Null when nothing is built. */
   path: string | null;
   built: boolean;
+  /**
+   * What has to be true before this section can be opened.
+   *
+   *   'connection'  the fofos API must be reachable — every section that READS the site
+   *   'root'        only the root location must be set — the file browser needs nowhere to talk to
+   *   'nothing'     always open, because it is where you go to satisfy the other two
+   *
+   * This exists because the sections do not all depend on the same thing, and treating them as if they
+   * did was wrong in a way that showed: Media needs a folder on this machine and nothing else, and was
+   * locked behind a connection it never uses.
+   */
+  requires: 'connection' | 'root' | 'nothing';
   /**
    * Pinned to the FOOT of the nav rather than sitting in the list.
    *
@@ -68,6 +80,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'The hero, the intro, and the gallery',
     path: '/fofos-admin/home',
     built: false,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     key: 'about',
@@ -76,6 +89,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'The header photograph and the copy',
     path: '/fofos-admin/about',
     built: false,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     key: 'collections',
@@ -84,6 +98,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'Collections, and the items in them',
     path: '/fofos-admin/collections',
     built: false,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     key: 'gallery',
@@ -92,6 +107,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'Standalone pieces',
     path: '/fofos-admin/gallery',
     built: false,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     key: 'collabs',
@@ -100,6 +116,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'Projects with other people',
     path: '/fofos-admin/collabs',
     built: false,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     key: 'drops',
@@ -108,6 +125,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'Releases',
     path: '/fofos-admin/drops',
     built: false,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     key: 'services',
@@ -116,6 +134,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'A fixed tree — the words, not the shape',
     path: '/fofos-admin/services',
     built: false,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     key: 'site',
@@ -124,6 +143,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'Partners, social links, contact details',
     path: '/fofos-admin/site',
     built: false,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     key: 'messages',
@@ -132,6 +152,7 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'What people sent through the contact form',
     path: '/fofos-admin/messages',
     built: true,
+    requires: 'connection',
   },
   {
     /*
@@ -151,6 +172,10 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'Photos and video the site is built from',
     path: null,
     built: true,
+    // A folder on this machine. It never speaks to fofos, so a connection is not its business.
+    requires: 'root',
+    // Pinned beside Administration: both are about this machine rather than about the site's pages.
+    pinned: true,
   },
   {
     /*
@@ -164,6 +189,9 @@ export const SECTIONS: Section[] = [
     hint: 'Where fofos is, and the token to reach it',
     path: null,
     built: true,
+    // Always reachable. It is where the other two requirements are satisfied, so locking it would be
+    // locking somebody out of the only door.
+    requires: 'nothing',
     pinned: true,
   },
 ];
@@ -176,3 +204,25 @@ export const isSectionKey = (value: string | null): value is SectionKey =>
 
 export const sectionFor = (key: SectionKey): Section =>
   SECTIONS.find((section) => section.key === key) ?? SECTIONS[SECTIONS.length - 1]!;
+
+/**
+ * Can this section be opened, given what is currently true?
+ *
+ * One function, used by the nav to decide whether to offer a link and by the detail panel to decide
+ * what to render — so the two cannot disagree about a section. That was already the rule when there was
+ * one global flag; it matters more now that each section asks its own question.
+ */
+export const sectionOpen = (section: Section, state: { ready: boolean; rootSet: boolean }): boolean => {
+  switch (section.requires) {
+    case 'nothing':
+      return true;
+    case 'root':
+      return state.rootSet;
+    case 'connection':
+      return state.ready;
+  }
+};
+
+/** Why it is locked, in the fewest words that are actually useful. */
+export const sectionBlockedBy = (section: Section): string =>
+  section.requires === 'root' ? 'needs a root location' : 'needs a connection to fofos';
diff --git a/web/useReady.ts b/web/useReady.ts
index 58d0b0e..7ff5fed 100644
--- a/web/useReady.ts
+++ b/web/useReady.ts
@@ -39,11 +39,19 @@ import { useFofosChanged } from './channel';
  * assembling their own version of the condition out of the pieces.
  */
 
-type Status = { configured: boolean; lastProbeOk: boolean | null };
+type Status = { configured: boolean; lastProbeOk: boolean | null; rootSet: boolean };
 
 export type Readiness = {
-  /** True only when every section may be opened. */
+  /** The fofos connection works. Gates every section that READS the site. */
   ready: boolean;
+  /**
+   * A root location has been chosen.
+   *
+   * Separate from `ready` because the two are genuinely different questions and one section depends on
+   * each. Media needs a folder on this machine; it never speaks to fofos, and gating it behind a
+   * connection it does not use was the bug that made this distinction necessary.
+   */
+  rootSet: boolean;
   /** Still asking. Callers should render nothing rather than guess — see below. */
   loading: boolean;
 };
@@ -65,7 +73,7 @@ export const useReady = (): Readiness => {
         "you have not set this up", which is a far more alarming thing to be told and invites somebody
         to re-enter a connection that was never the problem.
       */
-      setStatus({ configured: true, lastProbeOk: null });
+      setStatus({ configured: true, lastProbeOk: null, rootSet: false });
     }
   }, []);
 
@@ -78,5 +86,5 @@ export const useReady = (): Readiness => {
   // ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   const ready = false;
 
-  return { ready, loading: status === null };
+  return { ready, rootSet: status?.rootSet ?? false, loading: status === null };
 };