diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 20e09b4..aca50d5 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -49,81 +49,109 @@ fn registry_dir(image: &str) -> PathBuf {
 }
 
 fn build(image: &str) -> Result<()> {
-    // Step 1: mount via podman unshare (verified in Slice 0)
+    let mount_path = mount_image(image)?;
+    println!("Mounted at: {}", mount_path.display());
+
+    // Keep the build result so the image is unmounted even when the build fails.
+    let result = build_artifacts(image, &mount_path);
+
+    let unmounted = Command::new("podman")
+        .args(["unshare", "--", "podman", "image", "unmount", image])
+        .output()
+        .is_ok_and(|out| out.status.success());
+    if unmounted {
+        println!("Unmounted image.");
+    } else {
+        eprintln!("warning: failed to unmount image '{}'", image);
+    }
+
+    result
+}
+
+fn mount_image(image: &str) -> Result<PathBuf> {
     let output = Command::new("podman")
         .args(["unshare", "--", "podman", "image", "mount", image])
         .output()
-        .context("Failed to run podman unshare image mount")?;
-    let mount_path_str = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).trim().to_string();
-    if mount_path_str.is_empty() {
-        anyhow::bail!("podman image mount returned empty path");
+        .context("Failed to run podman image mount")?;
+    let mount_path = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).trim().to_string();
+    if !output.status.success() || mount_path.is_empty() {
+        anyhow::bail!(
+            "podman image mount failed: {}",
+            String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr).trim()
+        );
     }
-    let mount_path = Path::new(&mount_path_str);
-    println!("Mounted at: {}", mount_path.display());
+    Ok(PathBuf::from(mount_path))
+}
 
-    // Step 2: find vmlinuz
-    let vmlinuz_src = mount_path.join("vmlinuz");
-    if !vmlinuz_src.exists() {
+fn build_artifacts(image: &str, mount_path: &Path) -> Result<()> {
+    let mount_path = mount_path.to_str().context("mount path is not UTF-8")?;
+    let vmlinuz_src = format!("{mount_path}/vmlinuz");
+
+    // The rootless overlay mount only exists inside podman unshare's user
+    // namespace, so every read of the rootfs must run there; pipes still
+    // cross the namespace boundary.
+    let has_kernel = Command::new("podman")
+        .args(["unshare", "--", "test", "-f", &vmlinuz_src])
+        .status()
+        .context("Failed to check for /vmlinuz inside the image mount")?;
+    if !has_kernel.success() {
         anyhow::bail!(
             "Image missing required /vmlinuz. Place kernel at /vmlinuz in Containerfile."
         );
     }
 
-    // Step 3: prepare registry dir
     let reg_dir = registry_dir(image);
     fs::create_dir_all(&reg_dir)?;
     println!("Registry: {}", reg_dir.display());
 
-    // Copy vmlinuz out
     let vmlinuz_dst = reg_dir.join("vmlinuz");
-    fs::copy(&vmlinuz_src, &vmlinuz_dst).context("Copy vmlinuz to registry")?;
+    let cp_status = Command::new("podman")
+        .args([
+            "unshare",
+            "--",
+            "cp",
+            &vmlinuz_src,
+            vmlinuz_dst.to_str().context("registry path is not UTF-8")?,
+        ])
+        .status()
+        .context("Failed to copy vmlinuz out of the image mount")?;
+    if !cp_status.success() {
+        anyhow::bail!("Failed to copy vmlinuz to registry");
+    }
     println!("Copied vmlinuz -> {}", vmlinuz_dst.display());
 
-    // Step 4: create initrd via cpio binary (using system cpio for reliability)
-    let initrd_raw = reg_dir.join("initrd.tmp");
+    // Pack the rootfs as a gzipped newc cpio archive; vmlinuz is excluded
+    // because QEMU loads the kernel separately via -kernel. The cpio
+    // pipeline runs inside the namespace, its stdout is compressed here.
     let initrd_path = reg_dir.join("initrd");
-
-    // Build cpio from rootfs (excluding vmlinuz since it is separate kernel)
-    let mut find_cmd = Command::new("find")
-        .arg(".")
-        .current_dir(mount_path)
+    let script = r#"cd "$1" && find . -not -path ./vmlinuz | cpio -o -H newc"#;
+    let mut cpio = Command::new("podman")
+        .args(["unshare", "--", "sh", "-c", script, "sh", mount_path])
         .stdout(Stdio::piped())
         .spawn()
-        .context("Failed to spawn find")?;
-    let find_stdout = find_cmd.stdout.take().unwrap();
+        .context("Failed to spawn the cpio pipeline")?;
 
-    let mut cpio_cmd = Command::new("cpio")
-        .args(["-o", "-H", "newc"])
-        .current_dir(mount_path)
-        .stdin(Stdio::from(find_stdout))
-        .stdout(Stdio::from(File::create(&initrd_raw)?))
-        .spawn()
-        .context("Failed to spawn cpio")?;
+    let initrd_file = File::create(&initrd_path).context("Failed to create initrd file")?;
+    let mut encoder = flate2::write::GzEncoder::new(initrd_file, flate2::Compression::default());
+    let cpio_stdout = cpio.stdout.take().context("cpio stdout was not piped")?;
+    let copied = std::io::copy(&mut std::io::BufReader::new(cpio_stdout), &mut encoder);
+    let stream_result = copied
+        .and_then(move |_| encoder.finish().map(|_| ()))
+        .context("Failed to write the gzipped initrd");
+    let cpio_status = cpio
+        .wait()
+        .context("Failed to wait for the cpio pipeline")?;
 
-    let find_status = find_cmd.wait()?;
-    let cpio_status = cpio_cmd.wait()?;
-    if !find_status.success() || !cpio_status.success() {
-        anyhow::bail!("find or cpio failed");
+    if let Err(e) = stream_result {
+        let _ = fs::remove_file(&initrd_path);
+        return Err(e);
+    }
+    if !cpio_status.success() {
+        let _ = fs::remove_file(&initrd_path);
+        anyhow::bail!("find/cpio pipeline failed with status {cpio_status}");
     }
-
-    // Gzip initrd
-    let initrd_file = fs::File::open(&initrd_raw)?;
-    let mut initrd_writer =
-        flate2::write::GzEncoder::new(File::create(&initrd_path)?, flate2::Compression::default());
-    std::io::copy(
-        &mut std::io::BufReader::new(initrd_file),
-        &mut initrd_writer,
-    )?;
-    initrd_writer.finish()?;
-    fs::remove_file(&initrd_raw)?;
     println!("Created initrd -> {}", initrd_path.display());
 
-    // Unmount image
-    let _ = Command::new("podman")
-        .args(["unshare", "--", "podman", "image", "unmount", image])
-        .output();
-    println!("Unmounted image.");
-
     Ok(())
 }
 
@@ -160,12 +188,17 @@ fn run(name: &str) -> Result<()> {
         ])
         .status()
         .context("Failed to launch qemu-system-x86_64")?;
-    if status.success() {
-        println!("QEMU exited cleanly (timeout or normal exit).");
-    } else {
-        println!(
-            "QEMU exited with non-zero status (timeout/expected for initrd boot without init)."
-        );
+
+    // `timeout` exits 124 when it kills QEMU after the 5s smoke-test
+    // window; any other non-zero status is a real failure.
+    match status.code() {
+        Some(0) => println!("QEMU exited cleanly."),
+        Some(124) => println!("QEMU timed out after 5s (expected during smoke boot)."),
+        Some(126) | Some(127) => {
+            anyhow::bail!("Failed to start qemu-system-x86_64 (is it installed and in PATH?)")
+        }
+        Some(code) => anyhow::bail!("QEMU exited with code {code}"),
+        None => anyhow::bail!("QEMU terminated by a signal"),
     }
     Ok(())
 }