diff --git a/internal/apply/apply.go b/internal/apply/apply.go
index efe8ed0..f3cd989 100644
--- a/internal/apply/apply.go
+++ b/internal/apply/apply.go
@@ -139,6 +139,11 @@ type Error struct {
 	// reading a report needs to know the difference between "these things failed" and "these
 	// things failed and the rest was never tried".
 	Gated bool
+
+	// Modules are the modules whose rest was not attempted, behind a step that did not complete
+	// (novox/hq ADR 0136) or a directory the engine refused (issue 495). Named, because "everything
+	// was attempted" is then untrue, and a report that says so after skipping a module lies.
+	Modules []string
 }
 
 func (e *Error) Error() string {
@@ -149,7 +154,10 @@ func (e *Error) Error() string {
 		also = fmt.Sprintf(", and %d other resources also failed", e.Others)
 	}
 	rest := "everything was attempted, so what is not listed as failed was done."
-	if e.Gated {
+	if len(e.Modules) > 0 {
+		rest = fmt.Sprintf("the rest of %s was not attempted and is listed as skipped; everything else "+
+			"was attempted, so what is not listed as failed or skipped was done.", strings.Join(e.Modules, ", "))
+	} else if e.Gated {
 		// An action is a gate: it exists to make something true before the next thing needs it.
 		rest = "this is an action, so nothing after it was attempted — the machine is in " +
 			"whatever state that left it."
@@ -506,6 +514,16 @@ func ApplyMindingWindows(
 	// Modules whose own step did not complete. What follows *within such a module* is not attempted;
 	// the rest of the machine is (novox/hq ADR 0136).
 	gated := map[string]bool{}
+	// Why each gated module was gated, said on every resource of it that was skipped.
+	gatedWhy := map[string]string{}
+	gatedModules := func() []string {
+		out := make([]string, 0, len(gated))
+		for m := range gated {
+			out = append(out, m)
+		}
+		sort.Strings(out)
+		return out
+	}
 	for i, resource := range ordered {
 		if !orphansRemoved && i == guardFirst {
 			// **Only a guard that is up may let the filter go.** Removing the derived filter's
@@ -516,6 +534,7 @@ func ApplyMindingWindows(
 				first := failures[0]
 				first.Done = report
 				first.Others = len(failures) - 1
+				first.Modules = gatedModules()
 				log("  kept " + guardPrefix + "*: the guard is not up, so what it replaces was left in force")
 				return report, known, first
 			}
@@ -529,7 +548,7 @@ func ApplyMindingWindows(
 		if module, ours := moduleOf(resource.Identity()); ours && gated[module] {
 			report.Outcomes = append(report.Outcomes, Outcome{
 				ID: resource.Identity(), Type: string(resource.Kind()), Target: resource.Target(),
-				Action: "skipped", Detail: "a step this module declares did not complete",
+				Action: "skipped", Detail: gatedWhy[module],
 			})
 			continue
 		}
@@ -663,6 +682,23 @@ func ApplyMindingWindows(
 			// dynsec store was not seeded must not be started, so a run-once step that did not
 			// complete gates what follows exactly as a failed action does — that is the whole of
 			// how "before that container starts" is enforced, since the step is declared before it.
+			// **A directory the engine refused gates the rest of its module** (novox/hq issue 495), as a
+			// step that did not complete does. What a module declares after its directory — a file in it,
+			// a step that reads it, a container that mounts it — was written for that directory, and the
+			// engine refused Docker's data root and then wrote a file into it and ran the module's step.
+			// The file guard (refusedPlaces) refuses what is below the directory whatever its module; this
+			// keeps the module from going on as if its directory were there. Only the guard's refusals: a
+			// directory that failed to be made is a failure like any other.
+			if dir, ok := resource.(*declaration.Directory); ok && in.refused[filepath.Clean(dir.Path)] != nil {
+				if module, ours := moduleOf(resource.Identity()); ours {
+					gated[module] = true
+					gatedWhy[module] = fmt.Sprintf("its directory %s was refused (novox/hq issue 495), so "+
+						"nothing more of this module was attempted", filepath.Clean(dir.Path))
+					log(fmt.Sprintf("  gated %s.*: its directory %s was refused, so the rest of it was not "+
+						"attempted", module, filepath.Clean(dir.Path)))
+				}
+				continue
+			}
 			gates := resource.Kind() == declaration.TypeAction
 			if c, ok := resource.(*declaration.Container); ok && c.RunOnce {
 				gates = true
@@ -705,12 +741,14 @@ func ApplyMindingWindows(
 				// next possible, and they belong to no module.
 				if module, ours := moduleOf(resource.Identity()); ours {
 					gated[module] = true
+					gatedWhy[module] = "a step this module declares did not complete"
 					log(fmt.Sprintf("  gated %s.*: a step it declares did not complete, so the rest "+
 						"of it was not attempted", module))
 					continue
 				}
 				failed.Done = report
 				failed.Others = len(failures) - 1
+				failed.Modules = gatedModules()
 				return report, known, failed
 			}
 			continue
@@ -888,6 +926,7 @@ func ApplyMindingWindows(
 		first := failures[0]
 		first.Done = report
 		first.Others = len(failures) - 1
+		first.Modules = gatedModules()
 		return report, known, first
 	}
 	return report, known, nil
@@ -970,7 +1009,8 @@ func applyOne(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, r declaration.Resource, ru
 	// Nothing is placed in or mounted from the machine's own trees, whoever asked (novox/hq issue 339): a
 	// refusal is this resource failing, with its reason, in the node's report.
 	switch res := r.(type) {
-	case *declaration.Directory, *declaration.Access:
+	case *declaration.Directory, *declaration.Access, *declaration.File, *declaration.Archive:
+		// A file and an archive too: below a refused directory, or in a tree nothing is placed in (issue 495).
 		if err := in.refused[filepath.Clean(r.Target())]; err != nil {
 			return begin(r), err
 		}
diff --git a/internal/apply/placement_guard.go b/internal/apply/placement_guard.go
index 49c1d83..01112d5 100644
--- a/internal/apply/placement_guard.go
+++ b/internal/apply/placement_guard.go
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ package apply
 //  5. **A mount source that is a refused directory or a refused access is refused with it**: the container
 //     would otherwise bind the very path the engine would not place, and the runtime creates a missing one
 //     as root.
+//  6. **A file is judged as a directory is** (novox/hq issue 495): never one of the machine's own roots, nor
+//     in a tree nothing is placed in (rule 2), and never below a directory or an access refused here. A file
+//     or an archive below a refused path is refused with it, whichever module declares it and in whatever
+//     order. Rules 3 and 4 are a directory's owner and do not reach a file: a file below /etc is the mesh's
+//     ordinary configuration, and one below a home is judged by home_links.go and agent_home_guard.go.
+//     A refused directory also gates the rest of its module, as a step that did not complete does
+//     (apply.go's `gated`): what a module declares after its directory was written for that directory.
 //
 // Each is a failed resource with its reason in the node's report; nothing is touched. Paths are judged as
 // declared and again with every link in them resolved, so a link at /srv/x pointing at /etc places nothing.
@@ -400,6 +407,7 @@ const (
 	placingDirectory placing = iota
 	placingAccess
 	placingMount
+	placingFile
 )
 
 // refusePath says why a path is not placed or mounted; nil when it may be. module is the resource's module,
@@ -466,7 +474,7 @@ func refuseOne(path string, kind placing, module, owner string) *PlacementRefuse
 	for _, part := range strings.Split(path, "/") {
 		ssh = ssh || part == ".ssh"
 	}
-	if ssh && kind != placingDirectory {
+	if ssh && (kind == placingAccess || kind == placingMount) {
 		return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: path, Why: "it is an account's .ssh, which holds its keys and who may " +
 			"log in as it, and is never an access or a mount"}
 	}
@@ -502,8 +510,12 @@ func moduleOfID(id string) string {
 	return module
 }
 
-// refusedPlaces judges every directory and access of a declaration before anything is applied, and answers
-// each refusal by path: what is refused is refused again as a container's mount source.
+// refusedPlaces judges every directory, access, file and archive of a declaration before anything is applied,
+// and answers each refusal by path: what is refused is refused again as a container's mount source.
+//
+// Directories and accesses first, so a file or an archive below one of them is refused with it whatever order
+// they are declared in (novox/hq issue 495): the engine refused Docker's data root as a directory and then wrote
+// a file into it, because nothing judged the file's path.
 func refusedPlaces(resources []declaration.Resource) map[string]error {
 	out := map[string]error{}
 	for _, r := range resources {
@@ -520,9 +532,60 @@ func refusedPlaces(resources []declaration.Resource) map[string]error {
 			out[filepath.Clean(r.Target())] = err
 		}
 	}
+	trees := make(map[string]error, len(out))
+	for path, err := range out {
+		trees[path] = err
+	}
+	for _, r := range resources {
+		var err error
+		switch res := r.(type) {
+		case *declaration.File:
+			if err = belowRefused(res.Path, trees); err == nil {
+				err = refusePath(res.Path, placingFile, moduleOfID(res.ID), "")
+			}
+		case *declaration.Archive:
+			// Only below a refused path: where an archive may unpack is otherwise the archive's own judgement
+			// (archive.go), and the engine's own module unpacks its versions into its own tree.
+			err = belowRefused(res.Path, trees)
+		default:
+			continue
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			out[filepath.Clean(r.Target())] = err
+		}
+	}
 	return out
 }
 
+// belowRefused says why a path below a refused directory or access is refused with it; nil when it is below
+// none. Judged as declared and with its links resolved, as refusePath judges.
+func belowRefused(path string, refused map[string]error) error {
+	clean := filepath.Clean(path)
+	if !filepath.IsAbs(clean) {
+		return nil
+	}
+	for _, p := range []string{clean, resolved(clean)} {
+		// The deepest refused tree it is below, so the same declaration always gives the same reason.
+		var tree string
+		for t := range refused {
+			if below(p, t) && len(t) > len(tree) {
+				tree = t
+			}
+		}
+		if tree == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+		why := refused[tree]
+		reason := why.Error()
+		var refusal *PlacementRefusedError
+		if errors.As(why, &refusal) {
+			reason = refusal.Why
+		}
+		return &PlacementRefusedError{Path: clean, Why: "it is below " + tree + ", which is refused: " + reason}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // refuseMounts says why a container's mounts are not made; nil when they may be.
 func refuseMounts(c *declaration.Container, refused map[string]error) error {
 	for _, v := range c.Volumes {