diff --git a/docker/get-n8n.sh b/docker/get-n8n.sh
index 6907d770152..ec468475aa0 100755
--- a/docker/get-n8n.sh
+++ b/docker/get-n8n.sh
@@ -94,9 +94,11 @@ parse_args() {
 check_deps() {
 	command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1 || fail "Docker is not installed.
   Install it first:
-    Linux:         https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/
+    Linux / WSL:   curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
+                   then: sudo usermod -aG docker \$USER && re-open your shell
     macOS:         https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/mac-install/
-    Windows (WSL): https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/windows-install/
+    Windows:       https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/windows-install/
+                   (enable your distro under Settings > Resources > WSL integration)
   Podman, Colima and other Docker-compatible engines work too: install the
   'docker' CLI with the compose plugin and point DOCKER_HOST at their socket."
 
@@ -141,19 +143,22 @@ http_get() {
 }
 
 port_in_use() {
+	# In use only when something actually answers. Refusals AND timeouts count
+	# as free: Windows firewalls/WSL drop instead of refusing, which made the
+	# old "anything but refused" check a false positive. --noproxy keeps a
+	# corporate proxy from answering on 127.0.0.1's behalf. Ambiguous cases
+	# fall through to the container healthcheck, which surfaces real conflicts.
 	if command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-		# Any HTTP response (even an error status) means something is listening;
-		# only "connection refused" (rc 7) means the port is free.
 		rc=0
-		curl -s -o /dev/null --max-time 2 "http://127.0.0.1:${N8N_PORT}/" 2>/dev/null || rc=$?
-		[ "$rc" -ne 7 ]
+		curl -s -o /dev/null --noproxy '*' --max-time 2 "http://127.0.0.1:${N8N_PORT}/" 2>/dev/null || rc=$?
+		# rc 0 = HTTP response; 52/56 = connection accepted but no/broken reply.
+		[ "$rc" -eq 0 ] || [ "$rc" -eq 52 ] || [ "$rc" -eq 56 ]
 	elif command -v wget >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-		# wget rc 4 = network failure (connection refused) = port free.
 		rc=0
-		wget -q -O /dev/null -T 2 "http://127.0.0.1:${N8N_PORT}/" 2>/dev/null || rc=$?
-		[ "$rc" -ne 4 ]
+		wget -q -O /dev/null --no-proxy -T 2 "http://127.0.0.1:${N8N_PORT}/" 2>/dev/null || rc=$?
+		# rc 0 = OK response; 8 = server issued an error response.
+		[ "$rc" -eq 0 ] || [ "$rc" -eq 8 ]
 	else
-		# No way to check; let the healthcheck surface conflicts later.
 		return 1
 	fi
 }