diff --git a/players/join.bat b/players/join.bat
index 8129612..ff9f42f 100644
--- a/players/join.bat
+++ b/players/join.bat
@@ -37,13 +37,25 @@ rem (btl4console.cpp).  So OUR child exiting means "the menu handed off",
 rem NOT "the game closed" -- without this wait the window announced "The
 rem game has exited" while the game was still loading, which reads as a
 rem crash to a playtester.  Wait for the handed-off generation(s) to go.
+rem
+rem NO EXTERNAL TOOLS: `find`, `findstr` and `timeout` are all shadowed by
+rem Git-Bash / MSYS / GnuWin32 builds of the same names when those are on
+rem PATH (a dev box, or a player who installed git).  The MSYS `find` is
+rem the Unix one and dies with "find: '/I': No such file or directory",
+rem and GNU `timeout` takes different arguments.  So: parse tasklist with
+rem a pure-cmd for/f, and call both helpers by ABSOLUTE System32 path.
 rem A genuinely dead exe leaves no process and falls straight through, so
-rem the #41 launch forensics above still work.
+rem the #41 launch forensics above still work.  If tasklist is missing
+rem entirely the loop degrades to reporting immediately -- the old
+rem behaviour, never a hang.
 rem ------------------------------------------------------------------
 :btwait
-tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq btl4.exe" /NH 2>nul | find /I "btl4.exe" >nul
-if not errorlevel 1 (
-    timeout /t 2 /nobreak >nul
+set "BT_STILL_RUNNING="
+for /f "tokens=1" %%P in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\tasklist.exe /FI "IMAGENAME eq btl4.exe" /NH 2^>nul') do (
+    if /I "%%P"=="btl4.exe" set "BT_STILL_RUNNING=1"
+)
+if defined BT_STILL_RUNNING (
+    %SystemRoot%\System32\timeout.exe /t 2 /nobreak >nul 2>nul
     goto btwait
 )
 echo.
diff --git a/players/join_lan.bat b/players/join_lan.bat
index 7d36037..185d1c3 100644
--- a/players/join_lan.bat
+++ b/players/join_lan.bat
@@ -40,13 +40,25 @@ rem (btl4console.cpp).  So OUR child exiting means "the menu handed off",
 rem NOT "the game closed" -- without this wait the window announced "The
 rem game has exited" while the game was still loading, which reads as a
 rem crash to a playtester.  Wait for the handed-off generation(s) to go.
+rem
+rem NO EXTERNAL TOOLS: `find`, `findstr` and `timeout` are all shadowed by
+rem Git-Bash / MSYS / GnuWin32 builds of the same names when those are on
+rem PATH (a dev box, or a player who installed git).  The MSYS `find` is
+rem the Unix one and dies with "find: '/I': No such file or directory",
+rem and GNU `timeout` takes different arguments.  So: parse tasklist with
+rem a pure-cmd for/f, and call both helpers by ABSOLUTE System32 path.
 rem A genuinely dead exe leaves no process and falls straight through, so
-rem the #41 launch forensics above still work.
+rem the #41 launch forensics above still work.  If tasklist is missing
+rem entirely the loop degrades to reporting immediately -- the old
+rem behaviour, never a hang.
 rem ------------------------------------------------------------------
 :btwait
-tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq btl4.exe" /NH 2>nul | find /I "btl4.exe" >nul
-if not errorlevel 1 (
-    timeout /t 2 /nobreak >nul
+set "BT_STILL_RUNNING="
+for /f "tokens=1" %%P in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\tasklist.exe /FI "IMAGENAME eq btl4.exe" /NH 2^>nul') do (
+    if /I "%%P"=="btl4.exe" set "BT_STILL_RUNNING=1"
+)
+if defined BT_STILL_RUNNING (
+    %SystemRoot%\System32\timeout.exe /t 2 /nobreak >nul 2>nul
     goto btwait
 )
 echo.
diff --git a/players/play_solo.bat b/players/play_solo.bat
index 57fda3d..a7edf1e 100644
--- a/players/play_solo.bat
+++ b/players/play_solo.bat
@@ -36,13 +36,25 @@ rem (btl4console.cpp).  So OUR child exiting means "the menu handed off",
 rem NOT "the game closed" -- without this wait the window announced "The
 rem game has exited" while the game was still loading, which reads as a
 rem crash to a playtester.  Wait for the handed-off generation(s) to go.
+rem
+rem NO EXTERNAL TOOLS: `find`, `findstr` and `timeout` are all shadowed by
+rem Git-Bash / MSYS / GnuWin32 builds of the same names when those are on
+rem PATH (a dev box, or a player who installed git).  The MSYS `find` is
+rem the Unix one and dies with "find: '/I': No such file or directory",
+rem and GNU `timeout` takes different arguments.  So: parse tasklist with
+rem a pure-cmd for/f, and call both helpers by ABSOLUTE System32 path.
 rem A genuinely dead exe leaves no process and falls straight through, so
-rem the #41 launch forensics above still work.
+rem the #41 launch forensics above still work.  If tasklist is missing
+rem entirely the loop degrades to reporting immediately -- the old
+rem behaviour, never a hang.
 rem ------------------------------------------------------------------
 :btwait
-tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq btl4.exe" /NH 2>nul | find /I "btl4.exe" >nul
-if not errorlevel 1 (
-    timeout /t 2 /nobreak >nul
+set "BT_STILL_RUNNING="
+for /f "tokens=1" %%P in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\tasklist.exe /FI "IMAGENAME eq btl4.exe" /NH 2^>nul') do (
+    if /I "%%P"=="btl4.exe" set "BT_STILL_RUNNING=1"
+)
+if defined BT_STILL_RUNNING (
+    %SystemRoot%\System32\timeout.exe /t 2 /nobreak >nul 2>nul
     goto btwait
 )
 echo.
diff --git a/players/play_steam.bat b/players/play_steam.bat
index 9898125..19284dc 100644
--- a/players/play_steam.bat
+++ b/players/play_steam.bat
@@ -30,13 +30,25 @@ rem (btl4console.cpp).  So OUR child exiting means "the menu handed off",
 rem NOT "the game closed" -- without this wait the window announced "The
 rem game has exited" while the game was still loading, which reads as a
 rem crash to a playtester.  Wait for the handed-off generation(s) to go.
+rem
+rem NO EXTERNAL TOOLS: `find`, `findstr` and `timeout` are all shadowed by
+rem Git-Bash / MSYS / GnuWin32 builds of the same names when those are on
+rem PATH (a dev box, or a player who installed git).  The MSYS `find` is
+rem the Unix one and dies with "find: '/I': No such file or directory",
+rem and GNU `timeout` takes different arguments.  So: parse tasklist with
+rem a pure-cmd for/f, and call both helpers by ABSOLUTE System32 path.
 rem A genuinely dead exe leaves no process and falls straight through, so
-rem the #41 launch forensics above still work.
+rem the #41 launch forensics above still work.  If tasklist is missing
+rem entirely the loop degrades to reporting immediately -- the old
+rem behaviour, never a hang.
 rem ------------------------------------------------------------------
 :btwait
-tasklist /FI "IMAGENAME eq btl4.exe" /NH 2>nul | find /I "btl4.exe" >nul
-if not errorlevel 1 (
-    timeout /t 2 /nobreak >nul
+set "BT_STILL_RUNNING="
+for /f "tokens=1" %%P in ('%SystemRoot%\System32\tasklist.exe /FI "IMAGENAME eq btl4.exe" /NH 2^>nul') do (
+    if /I "%%P"=="btl4.exe" set "BT_STILL_RUNNING=1"
+)
+if defined BT_STILL_RUNNING (
+    %SystemRoot%\System32\timeout.exe /t 2 /nobreak >nul 2>nul
     goto btwait
 )
 echo.