diff --git a/weed/shell/command_ec_encode.go b/weed/shell/command_ec_encode.go
index 727ee0845..2e6756e4f 100644
--- a/weed/shell/command_ec_encode.go
+++ b/weed/shell/command_ec_encode.go
@@ -320,6 +320,18 @@ func doEcEncode(commandEnv *CommandEnv, writer io.Writer, volumeIdToCollection m
 		bestReplicas[vid] = bestLoc
 	}
 
+	// Re-attempt the orphan sweep on the nodes skipped as unreachable, now that
+	// any node that recovered during readonly-marking and replica sync answers
+	// again. A node whose teardown now succeeds is clean (and the generation host
+	// re-wipes its own disks regardless), so it leaves the skipped set and can be
+	// a balance source/target — otherwise its shards would never distribute off
+	// it. A node that is still down stays skipped and excluded, preserving the
+	// leniency for a genuinely-down node; such a node also cannot be the
+	// generation host below, since VolumeEcShardsGenerate would fail to read .dat.
+	if err := resweepSkippedNodes(commandEnv, skippedNodes, volumeIds, volumeIdToCollection, maxParallelization); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	// generate ec shards using the best replica for each volume
 	ewg.Reset()
 	for _, vid := range volumeIds {
@@ -452,6 +464,75 @@ func clearPreexistingEcShards(commandEnv *CommandEnv, topologyInfo *master_pb.To
 	return skipped, nil
 }
 
+// resweepSkippedNodes re-attempts the orphan teardown on the nodes that the
+// initial sweep skipped as unreachable, just before shard generation. A node
+// that recovered in the meantime — and is therefore eligible to host this
+// encode's generation — has its teardown retried; if it now fully succeeds it is
+// removed from skipped so the rebalance can use it as a source and move its
+// shards off, instead of stranding all shards on the single generation host and
+// collapsing fault tolerance. A node still transport-down stays skipped (the
+// same leniency the initial sweep grants), and a node that came back reachable
+// but whose delete genuinely failed is fatal, exactly as in the initial sweep,
+// so a stale generation is never silently left behind. Mutates skipped in place.
+func resweepSkippedNodes(commandEnv *CommandEnv, skipped map[pb.ServerAddress]struct{}, volumeIds []needle.VolumeId, volumeIdToCollection map[needle.VolumeId]string, maxParallelization int) error {
+	if len(skipped) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	allShardIds := make([]erasure_coding.ShardId, erasure_coding.MaxShardCount)
+	for i := range allShardIds {
+		allShardIds[i] = erasure_coding.ShardId(i)
+	}
+
+	addrs := make([]pb.ServerAddress, 0, len(skipped))
+	for addr := range skipped {
+		addrs = append(addrs, addr)
+	}
+
+	fmt.Printf("re-checking %d node(s) skipped by the orphan sweep before generating shards...\n", len(addrs))
+
+	// A node still down on every retried vid stays skipped; one that fully
+	// succeeds is un-skipped. Track per-node whether any retry still failed
+	// (down) so a node whose state is mixed across vids never gets un-skipped.
+	stillDown := make(map[pb.ServerAddress]struct{})
+	var mu sync.Mutex
+	ewg := NewErrorWaitGroup(maxParallelization)
+	for _, addr := range addrs {
+		for _, vid := range volumeIds {
+			collection := volumeIdToCollection[vid]
+			ewg.Add(func() error {
+				if err := unmountAndDeleteEcShardsQuiet(commandEnv.option.GrpcDialOption, collection, vid, addr, allShardIds); err != nil {
+					// Same decision as the initial sweep: a reachable node whose delete
+					// genuinely failed (or did not ack a full teardown, or whose liveness is
+					// inconclusive) is fatal, since it could hold an orphan a later copy
+					// re-stamps into this generation. Only a node still transport-down stays
+					// skipped.
+					if errors.Is(err, errFullTeardownNotAcked) || !isNodeUnreachable(err) ||
+						classifyNodeLiveness(pingVolumeServer(commandEnv.option.GrpcDialOption, addr)) != nodeDown {
+						return fmt.Errorf("re-clear stale ec shards for volume %d on %s: %w", vid, addr, err)
+					}
+					glog.V(1).Infof("orphan re-sweep: volume %d on %s still skipped (unreachable): %v", vid, addr, err)
+					mu.Lock()
+					stillDown[addr] = struct{}{}
+					mu.Unlock()
+				}
+				return nil
+			})
+		}
+	}
+	if err := ewg.Wait(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	for _, addr := range addrs {
+		if _, down := stillDown[addr]; !down {
+			delete(skipped, addr)
+			glog.V(0).Infof("orphan re-sweep: node %s recovered and was cleaned; it will participate in the EC rebalance", addr)
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 // isNodeUnreachable reports whether err means the volume server could not be
 // reached at all, as opposed to an RPC that reached the node and failed. Only an
 // unreachable node is safe to skip in the orphan sweep. A dead peer surfaces as