diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 0ca6940..21ca015 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,35 @@
 
 ---
 
+## V37 2026-03-20 22:30:00
+
+**Use Danish GNU mirror and add loopback disk setup script**
+
+### Changes:
+- Updated `toolchain/scripts/000a-download-sources.sh`:
+  - Switched all GNU package URLs to use `http://ftp.klid.dk/ftp/gnu` mirror
+    (faster from Denmark than ftp.gnu.org)
+  - Added `GNU_MIRROR` variable at top for easy mirror switching
+  - Non-GNU packages (kernel, mpfr, gmp, xz, zstd, perl, python, etc.) still
+    use their canonical upstream URLs
+- Added `toolchain/scripts/000-setup-disk.sh`:
+  - Creates a 50GB loopback ext4 filesystem at /opt/darkforge.img
+  - Mounts it at /mnt/darkforge — acts exactly like a real partition
+  - Uses fallocate for instant allocation (no slow dd)
+  - Includes remount instructions and fstab entry
+  - Safe: no repartitioning needed, uses free space on root
+- Updated `toolchain/scripts/000-env-setup.sh`:
+  - Improved error message to point users to 000-setup-disk.sh
+
+### Plan deviation/changes:
+- Using loopback file instead of a dedicated partition (user has no spare
+  partition but has 1.5TB free on root)
+
+### What is missing/needs polish:
+- None
+
+---
+
 ## V36 2026-03-20 22:00:00
 
 **Fix Phase 0 download script — 10+ version/filename mismatches with build scripts**
diff --git a/toolchain/scripts/000-env-setup.sh b/toolchain/scripts/000-env-setup.sh
index c90d848..d54c32e 100755
--- a/toolchain/scripts/000-env-setup.sh
+++ b/toolchain/scripts/000-env-setup.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ DF_LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1,--as-needed"
 # --- Verify mount point ------------------------------------------------------
 if ! mountpoint -q "${LFS}" 2>/dev/null; then
     echo "ERROR: ${LFS} is not a mount point."
-    echo "Mount the target partition first: mount /dev/<partition> ${LFS}"
+    echo "Run 000-setup-disk.sh first to create and mount the LFS filesystem,"
+    echo "or mount a partition manually: mount /dev/<partition> ${LFS}"
     exit 1
 fi
 
diff --git a/toolchain/scripts/000-setup-disk.sh b/toolchain/scripts/000-setup-disk.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..30d9e80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/toolchain/scripts/000-setup-disk.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# ============================================================================
+# DarkForge Linux — Phase 0: Create LFS Build Partition (Loopback)
+# ============================================================================
+# Purpose:  Create a loopback ext4 filesystem for the LFS build environment.
+#           This avoids repartitioning and uses free space on your root drive.
+#           The loopback file acts exactly like a real partition.
+# Inputs:   None (uses defaults below, override via environment)
+# Outputs:  50GB ext4 filesystem mounted at /mnt/darkforge
+# Assumes:  Running as root, ~50GB free on root filesystem
+# ============================================================================
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# --- Configuration -----------------------------------------------------------
+LFS="${LFS:-/mnt/darkforge}"
+LFS_IMAGE="${LFS_IMAGE:-/opt/darkforge.img}"
+LFS_SIZE="${LFS_SIZE:-50G}"
+
+# Color output
+RED='\033[0;31m'
+GREEN='\033[0;32m'
+YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
+NC='\033[0m'
+
+ok()   { echo -e "${GREEN}>>> $*${NC}"; }
+warn() { echo -e "${YELLOW}>>> $*${NC}"; }
+fail() { echo -e "${RED}>>> $*${NC}"; exit 1; }
+
+# --- Verify running as root --------------------------------------------------
+[ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ] || fail "This script must be run as root."
+
+echo "============================================================"
+echo " DarkForge Linux — LFS Build Partition Setup"
+echo "============================================================"
+echo ""
+echo "  Image file:  ${LFS_IMAGE}"
+echo "  Image size:  ${LFS_SIZE}"
+echo "  Mount point: ${LFS}"
+echo ""
+
+# --- Check if already mounted ------------------------------------------------
+if mountpoint -q "${LFS}" 2>/dev/null; then
+    ok "${LFS} is already mounted:"
+    df -h "${LFS}"
+    echo ""
+    echo "To start over: umount ${LFS} && rm ${LFS_IMAGE}"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+# --- Check free space ---------------------------------------------------------
+AVAIL_KB=$(df --output=avail / | tail -1 | tr -d ' ')
+AVAIL_GB=$((AVAIL_KB / 1024 / 1024))
+NEED_GB=$(echo "${LFS_SIZE}" | sed 's/G//')
+
+if [ "${AVAIL_GB}" -lt "${NEED_GB}" ]; then
+    fail "Not enough free space: ${AVAIL_GB}GB available, need ${NEED_GB}GB"
+fi
+ok "Free space check: ${AVAIL_GB}GB available, need ${NEED_GB}GB"
+
+# --- Create the loopback image -----------------------------------------------
+if [ -f "${LFS_IMAGE}" ]; then
+    warn "Image file already exists: ${LFS_IMAGE}"
+    echo "  Reusing existing image."
+else
+    echo ">>> Creating ${LFS_SIZE} image file (this takes a moment)..."
+    # Use fallocate for instant allocation (no slow dd)
+    fallocate -l "${LFS_SIZE}" "${LFS_IMAGE}" || {
+        warn "fallocate failed, falling back to truncate..."
+        truncate -s "${LFS_SIZE}" "${LFS_IMAGE}"
+    }
+    ok "Image created: ${LFS_IMAGE}"
+
+    echo ">>> Formatting as ext4..."
+    mkfs.ext4 -q -L darkforge "${LFS_IMAGE}"
+    ok "Formatted as ext4"
+fi
+
+# --- Mount it -----------------------------------------------------------------
+mkdir -p "${LFS}"
+mount -o loop "${LFS_IMAGE}" "${LFS}"
+ok "Mounted ${LFS_IMAGE} at ${LFS}"
+
+echo ""
+df -h "${LFS}"
+echo ""
+ok "LFS build partition is ready."
+echo ""
+echo "Next steps:"
+echo "  export LFS=${LFS}"
+echo "  bash toolchain/scripts/000-env-setup.sh"
+echo ""
+echo "To remount after reboot:"
+echo "  sudo mount -o loop ${LFS_IMAGE} ${LFS}"
+echo ""
+echo "To add to /etc/fstab (auto-mount on boot):"
+echo "  ${LFS_IMAGE}  ${LFS}  ext4  loop  0  0"
diff --git a/toolchain/scripts/000a-download-sources.sh b/toolchain/scripts/000a-download-sources.sh
index 2468278..9a4bdc1 100755
--- a/toolchain/scripts/000a-download-sources.sh
+++ b/toolchain/scripts/000a-download-sources.sh
@@ -9,17 +9,20 @@
 # Outputs:  Source tarballs in ${LFS}/sources/
 # Assumes:  Internet access, wget or curl available
 # Updated:  2026-03-20 — synced all versions with build scripts
+# Mirror:   Uses ftp.klid.dk (Denmark) for GNU packages — fast in EU
 # ============================================================================
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
 LFS="${LFS:-/mnt/darkforge}"
 SRCDIR="${LFS}/sources"
+GNU_MIRROR="http://ftp.klid.dk/ftp/gnu"
 
 mkdir -p "${SRCDIR}"
 cd "${SRCDIR}"
 
 echo "=== DarkForge: Downloading source tarballs ==="
+echo "GNU mirror: ${GNU_MIRROR}"
 
 # --- Helper function ----------------------------------------------------------
 download() {
@@ -45,32 +48,32 @@ download() {
 # Cross-Toolchain (Chapter 5)
 # ==============================================================================
 echo ">>> Cross-Toolchain packages..."
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/binutils/binutils-2.46.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-15.2.0/gcc-15.2.0.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/glibc/glibc-2.43.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/binutils/binutils-2.46.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/gcc/gcc-15.2.0/gcc-15.2.0.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/glibc/glibc-2.43.tar.xz"
 download "https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v6.x/linux-6.19.8.tar.xz"
 download "https://www.mpfr.org/mpfr-4.2.2/mpfr-4.2.2.tar.xz"
 download "https://gmplib.org/download/gmp/gmp-6.3.0.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/mpc/mpc-1.3.1.tar.gz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/mpc/mpc-1.3.1.tar.gz"
 
 # ==============================================================================
 # Temporary Tools (Chapter 6)
 # ==============================================================================
 echo ">>> Temporary tools packages..."
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/m4/m4-1.4.21.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/m4/m4-1.4.21.tar.xz"
 download "https://invisible-island.net/datafiles/release/ncurses-6.5.tar.gz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/bash-5.3.tar.gz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-9.6.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/diffutils/diffutils-3.10.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/bash/bash-5.3.tar.gz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/coreutils/coreutils-9.6.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/diffutils/diffutils-3.10.tar.xz"
 download "https://astron.com/pub/file/file-5.47.tar.gz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/findutils/findutils-4.10.0.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gawk/gawk-5.4.0.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/grep/grep-3.14.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gzip/gzip-1.14.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/make-4.4.1.tar.gz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/patch/patch-2.8.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/sed/sed-4.9.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/tar/tar-1.35.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/findutils/findutils-4.10.0.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/gawk/gawk-5.4.0.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/grep/grep-3.14.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/gzip/gzip-1.14.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/make/make-4.4.1.tar.gz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/patch/patch-2.8.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/sed/sed-4.9.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/tar/tar-1.35.tar.xz"
 download "https://github.com/tukaani-project/xz/releases/download/v5.8.1/xz-5.8.1.tar.gz"
 download "https://github.com/facebook/zstd/releases/download/v1.5.7/zstd-1.5.7.tar.gz"
 
@@ -78,11 +81,11 @@ download "https://github.com/facebook/zstd/releases/download/v1.5.7/zstd-1.5.7.t
 # Chroot Packages (Chapter 7)
 # ==============================================================================
 echo ">>> Chroot packages..."
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gettext/gettext-0.23.1.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/bison-3.8.2.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/gettext/gettext-0.23.1.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/bison/bison-3.8.2.tar.xz"
 download "https://www.cpan.org/src/5.0/perl-5.40.2.tar.xz"
 download "https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.13.3/Python-3.13.3.tar.xz"
-download "https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/texinfo/texinfo-7.3.tar.xz"
+download "${GNU_MIRROR}/texinfo/texinfo-7.3.tar.xz"
 download "https://zlib.net/zlib-1.3.1.tar.xz"
 download "https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.40/util-linux-2.40.4.tar.xz"
 
@@ -90,7 +93,6 @@ download "https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.40/util-linux-2.4
 # Patches
 # ==============================================================================
 echo ">>> Patches..."
-# LFS 13.0 patch: glibc-2.43-fhs-1.patch (matches glibc version)
 download "https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/patches/lfs/13.0/glibc-2.43-fhs-1.patch"
 
 echo ""