diff --git a/scripts/pack_probe.py b/scripts/pack_probe.py
index bb4adbfe1..7c466c7b1 100644
--- a/scripts/pack_probe.py
+++ b/scripts/pack_probe.py
@@ -27,16 +27,21 @@ the verdict, every file the core opened mapped to the pack entry that put it
 there, and the findings: a file the core looked for that the layout lacks,
 or holds under another path.
 
+Each core_probe run holds the host's probe lock (~/.local/state/retrobios/
+probe.lock, RETROBIOS_PROBE_LOCK) and releases it before the next: other
+probes run between ours. Building and extracting the pack take no lock.
+
 Usage:
-    flock ~/.local/state/retrobios/probe.lock \\
-        python scripts/pack_probe.py run --platform retroarch [--system sony-playstation]
+    python scripts/pack_probe.py run --platform retroarch [--system sony-playstation]
     python scripts/pack_probe.py plan --platform batocera
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
+import contextlib
 import datetime as dt
+import fcntl
 import hashlib
 import json
 import os
@@ -80,6 +85,8 @@ VERDICTS = ("boots", "bios_error", "crash", "hang", "unknown")
 MAX_ROUNDS = 6
 PROBE_TIMEOUT = 900
 IDLE_WAIT = 1800
+PROBE_LOCK = Path(os.environ.get("RETROBIOS_PROBE_LOCK")
+                  or Path.home() / ".local" / "state" / "retrobios" / "probe.lock")
 EXIT_BUSY = 3
 
 # The hardware target each platform is probed for: the one whose libretro
@@ -452,17 +459,33 @@ def wait_idle(limit: float = IDLE_WAIT, poll: float = 30.0) -> None:
         waited += poll
 
 
+@contextlib.contextmanager
+def probe_lock(path: Path | None = None):
+    """The host's probe lock, for one run: one probe at a time on the host,
+    released between runs so a pass never holds it for its whole length."""
+    path = path or PROBE_LOCK
+    path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    with path.open("a") as handle:
+        fcntl.flock(handle, fcntl.LOCK_EX)
+        try:
+            yield
+        finally:
+            fcntl.flock(handle, fcntl.LOCK_UN)
+
+
 def core_probe(argv: list[str], staged: set[str], layout: Layout, work: Path) -> tuple[int, dict | None, str]:
-    """core_probe.py run, the system files passed in an argument file."""
-    if "--record" in argv:
-        wait_idle()
+    """core_probe.py run under the probe lock, the system files passed in an
+    argument file."""
     work.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     argfile = work / "system-files.args"
     argfile.write_text("".join(f"--system-file\n{rel}={layout.root / rel}\n" for rel in sorted(staged)),
                        encoding="utf-8")
     command = [sys.executable, str(ROOT / "scripts" / "core_probe.py"), *argv, f"@{argfile}"]
-    proc = subprocess.run(command, capture_output=True, text=True, check=False, cwd=ROOT,
-                          timeout=PROBE_TIMEOUT * 2 + 120)
+    with probe_lock():
+        if "--record" in argv:
+            wait_idle()
+        proc = subprocess.run(command, capture_output=True, text=True, check=False, cwd=ROOT,
+                              timeout=PROBE_TIMEOUT * 2 + 120)
     record = None
     if proc.returncode == 0:
         try:
diff --git a/tests/test_pack_probe.py b/tests/test_pack_probe.py
index fbca00844..ec02bdf79 100644
--- a/tests/test_pack_probe.py
+++ b/tests/test_pack_probe.py
@@ -246,6 +246,41 @@ class SitePages(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(sm.pack_tested_section([]), [])
 
 
+class Lock(unittest.TestCase):
+    """The probe lock is held for one core_probe run and released after it."""
+
+    def test_held_for_each_run_only(self) -> None:
+        import fcntl
+        import subprocess
+        import unittest.mock
+
+        work = TMP / "lock"
+        shutil.rmtree(work, ignore_errors=True)
+        lock = work / "probe.lock"
+        held = []
+
+        def try_lock() -> bool:
+            with lock.open("a") as handle:
+                try:
+                    fcntl.flock(handle, fcntl.LOCK_EX | fcntl.LOCK_NB)
+                except BlockingIOError:
+                    return True
+                fcntl.flock(handle, fcntl.LOCK_UN)
+                return False
+
+        def fake_run(command, **kwargs):
+            held.append(try_lock())
+            return subprocess.CompletedProcess(command, 2, "", "refused")
+
+        lay = layout({"a.bin": 1})
+        with unittest.mock.patch.object(pp, "PROBE_LOCK", lock), \
+                unittest.mock.patch.object(pp.subprocess, "run", fake_run):
+            for _ in range(2):
+                self.assertEqual(pp.core_probe(["run"], {"a.bin"}, lay, work), (2, None, "refused"))
+        self.assertEqual(held, [True, True])
+        self.assertFalse(try_lock())
+
+
 def collection_on_disk() -> bool:
     return (REPO_ROOT / "bios" / "Sony" / "PlayStation" / "scph5501.bin").is_file()
 
diff --git a/wiki/tools.md b/wiki/tools.md
index 63a845827..09db531fc 100644
--- a/wiki/tools.md
+++ b/wiki/tools.md
@@ -1078,12 +1078,13 @@ Schemas: `campaign-finding.schema.json` and `campaign-run.schema.json`.
 
 Tests what the project promises: a platform's pack, installed the way a user
 installs it, starts that platform's games. A maintainer starts it, nothing
-runs it on a schedule. Run it under the probe lock, one run on the host at a
-time:
+runs it on a schedule. It takes the host's probe lock
+(`~/.local/state/retrobios/probe.lock`, `RETROBIOS_PROBE_LOCK`) around each
+`core_probe` run and releases it before the next, so other probes run between
+its runs. Never wrap the whole command in `flock`:
 
 ```bash
-flock ~/.local/state/retrobios/probe.lock \
-  python scripts/pack_probe.py run --platform retroarch
+python scripts/pack_probe.py run --platform retroarch
 python scripts/pack_probe.py run --platform batocera --system sega-saturn --install pack
 python scripts/pack_probe.py plan --platform retrobat   # systems, games and cores, nothing run
 ```
@@ -1094,7 +1095,7 @@ python scripts/pack_probe.py plan --platform retrobat   # systems, games and cor
 | Games | `tests/campaign/content.yml` and `tests/campaign/pack_content.yml`, same format, read from `.cache/test-content` of the main checkout and checked against their `identity.json`. `--fetch` gets a missing one through romfetch |
 | Cores | `resolve_platform_cores` with the target of the platform (`linux-x86_64` for RetroArch, `x86_64` for Batocera, `windows` for RetroBat), kept when the profile serves the system and its libretro build runs there: not a `standalone_cores` entry, unless `dual_mode_cores` names it. The `.so` is the buildbot's x86_64 Linux nightly, every build the target names, else the one named after the profile, else the first of its `cores:`. Kept in `.cache/pack-probe/cores` with its URL and `Last-Modified` |
 | Staging | `core_probe.py` copies what it stages, and a pack holds gigabytes, so the probe stages what the core can reach: the profile's libretro entries (path or name, and aliases), the platform's list for the system, every file of the folders those sit in, and for a profile with `found_by: content` every root file of a size it declares. A file or folder the core then looks for that the layout holds is staged and the run repeated, up to 6 runs |
-| Run | `core_probe.py run --require-sandbox --record`, the game's frames and frame sampling from its content entry, no core option set. The first run is recorded. When the staging grew, the closed staging runs again, recorded with `--supersedes` the first. Before a recorded run the probe waits for the 1-minute load to fall to a quarter of the CPUs, up to 30 minutes, then stops with exit 3 |
+| Run | `core_probe.py run --require-sandbox --record`, the game's frames and frame sampling from its content entry, no core option set. The first run is recorded. When the staging grew, the closed staging runs again, recorded with `--supersedes` the first. Each run holds the probe lock. Before a recorded run, lock held, the probe waits for the 1-minute load to fall to a quarter of the CPUs, up to 30 minutes, then stops with exit 3 |
 
 Each probe is one line of `measurements/pack-probes.jsonl`
 (`pack-probe.schema.json`): the platform and its version, the install path,