diff --git a/app/components/Sidebar.tsx b/app/components/Sidebar.tsx
index 0cc380ca40..c4705f50e2 100644
--- a/app/components/Sidebar.tsx
+++ b/app/components/Sidebar.tsx
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ const JumpToButton = () => {
 
 export function Sidebar({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
   return (
-    <div className="flex flex-col border-r text-sans-md text-default border-secondary">
+    <div className="fixed z-sideModal flex h-full w-[14.25rem] flex-col border-r text-sans-md text-default border-secondary">
       <div className="mx-3 mt-4">
         <JumpToButton />
       </div>
diff --git a/app/components/TopBar.tsx b/app/components/TopBar.tsx
index 8c33db531e..527bf44cb4 100644
--- a/app/components/TopBar.tsx
+++ b/app/components/TopBar.tsx
@@ -31,13 +31,12 @@ export function TopBar({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
   // It's important that this component returns two distinct elements (wrapped in a fragment).
   // Each element will occupy one of the top column slots provided by `PageContainer`.
   return (
-    <>
-      <div className="flex items-center border-b border-r px-3 border-secondary">
+    <div className="fixed top-0 z-topBar col-span-2 flex h-[var(--navigation-height)] w-full bg-default">
+      <div className="flex w-[var(--sidebar-width)] items-center border-b border-r px-3 border-secondary">
         {cornerPicker}
       </div>
-      {/* Height is governed by PageContainer grid */}
-      {/* shrink-0 is needed to prevent getting squished by body content */}
-      <div className="z-topBar border-b bg-default border-secondary">
+      <div className="z-topBar flex-1 border-b bg-default border-secondary">
+        {/* shrink-0 is needed to prevent getting squished by body content */}
         <div className="mx-3 flex h-[60px] shrink-0 items-center justify-between">
           <div className="flex items-center">{otherPickers}</div>
           <div className="flex items-center gap-2">
@@ -65,6 +64,6 @@ export function TopBar({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
           </div>
         </div>
       </div>
-    </>
+    </div>
   )
 }
diff --git a/app/hooks/use-scroll-restoration.ts b/app/hooks/use-scroll-restoration.ts
index 8dbd8a5848..5653257fe9 100644
--- a/app/hooks/use-scroll-restoration.ts
+++ b/app/hooks/use-scroll-restoration.ts
@@ -18,20 +18,19 @@ function setScrollPosition(key: string, pos: number) {
 }
 
 /**
- * Given a ref to a scrolling container element, keep track of its scroll
- * position before navigation and restore it on return (e.g., back/forward nav).
- * Note that `location.key` is used in the cache key, not `location.pathname`,
- * so the same path navigated to at different points in the history stack will
- * not share the same scroll position.
+ * Keep track of scroll position before navigation and restore it on return
+ * (e.g., back/forward nav). Note that `location.key` is used in the cache key,
+ * not `location.pathname`, so the same path navigated to at different points in
+ * the history stack will not share the same scroll position.
  */
-export function useScrollRestoration(container: React.RefObject<HTMLElement>) {
+export function useScrollRestoration() {
   const key = `scroll-position-${useLocation().key}`
   const { state } = useNavigation()
   useEffect(() => {
     if (state === 'loading') {
-      setScrollPosition(key, container.current?.scrollTop ?? 0)
+      setScrollPosition(key, window.scrollY ?? 0)
     } else if (state === 'idle') {
-      container.current?.scrollTo(0, getScrollPosition(key))
+      window.scrollTo(0, getScrollPosition(key))
     }
-  }, [key, state, container])
+  }, [key, state])
 }
diff --git a/app/layouts/AuthenticatedLayout.tsx b/app/layouts/AuthenticatedLayout.tsx
index b4cbc16682..e47a1b63b8 100644
--- a/app/layouts/AuthenticatedLayout.tsx
+++ b/app/layouts/AuthenticatedLayout.tsx
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
  *
  * Copyright Oxide Computer Company
  */
-import { Outlet } from 'react-router-dom'
+import { Outlet, ScrollRestoration } from 'react-router-dom'
 
 import { apiQueryClient, useApiQueryErrorsAllowed, usePrefetchedApiQuery } from '@oxide/api'
 
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ export function AuthenticatedLayout() {
     <>
       <QuickActions />
       <Outlet />
+      <ScrollRestoration />
     </>
   )
 }
diff --git a/app/layouts/helpers.tsx b/app/layouts/helpers.tsx
index 64a00c9cb0..fc0d1e376a 100644
--- a/app/layouts/helpers.tsx
+++ b/app/layouts/helpers.tsx
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
  *
  * Copyright Oxide Computer Company
  */
-import { useRef } from 'react'
 import { Outlet } from 'react-router-dom'
 
 import { PageActionsTarget } from '~/components/PageActions'
@@ -14,20 +13,21 @@ import { useScrollRestoration } from '~/hooks/use-scroll-restoration'
 import { SkipLinkTarget } from '~/ui/lib/SkipLink'
 import { classed } from '~/util/classed'
 
-export const PageContainer = classed.div`grid h-screen grid-cols-[14.25rem,1fr] grid-rows-[60px,1fr]`
+export const PageContainer = classed.div`min-h-screen pt-[var(--navigation-height)] [overscroll-behavior-y:none]`
 
+// TODO: this doesn't go tall enough on a tall screen to get the pagination bar to the bottom
+// http://localhost:4000/projects/mock-project/disks
 export function ContentPane() {
-  const ref = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
-  useScrollRestoration(ref)
+  useScrollRestoration()
   return (
-    <div ref={ref} className="flex flex-col overflow-auto" data-testid="scroll-container">
-      <div className="flex grow flex-col pb-8">
+    <div className="ml-[var(--sidebar-width)] flex min-h-full flex-col" id="content_pane">
+      <div className="flex grow flex-col pb-8 md-:pb-16">
         <SkipLinkTarget />
         <main className="[&>*]:gutter">
           <Outlet />
         </main>
       </div>
-      <div className="sticky bottom-0 z-topBar shrink-0 justify-between overflow-hidden border-t bg-default border-secondary empty:border-t-0">
+      <div className="sticky bottom-0 z-topBar flex-shrink-0 justify-between overflow-hidden border-t bg-default border-secondary empty:border-t-0">
         <Pagination.Target />
         <PageActionsTarget />
       </div>
@@ -42,7 +42,10 @@ export function ContentPane() {
  * `<div>` because we don't need it.
  */
 export const SerialConsoleContentPane = () => (
-  <div className="flex flex-col overflow-auto">
+  <div
+    className="ml-[var(--sidebar-width)] flex min-h-full flex-col overflow-auto"
+    id="content_pane"
+  >
     <div className="flex grow flex-col">
       <SkipLinkTarget />
       <main className="[&>*]:gutter h-full">
diff --git a/app/pages/project/instances/instance/SerialConsolePage.tsx b/app/pages/project/instances/instance/SerialConsolePage.tsx
index a6f3bdacfe..bf536f3450 100644
--- a/app/pages/project/instances/instance/SerialConsolePage.tsx
+++ b/app/pages/project/instances/instance/SerialConsolePage.tsx
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ export function SerialConsolePage() {
   }, [canConnect])
 
   return (
-    <div className="!mx-0 flex h-full max-h-[calc(100vh-60px)] !w-full flex-col">
+    <div className="!mx-0 flex h-screen max-h-[calc(100vh-60px)] !w-full flex-col">
       <Link
         to={pb.instance(instanceSelector)}
         className="mx-3 mb-6 mt-3 flex h-10 shrink-0 items-center rounded px-3 bg-accent-secondary"
diff --git a/app/ui/styles/index.css b/app/ui/styles/index.css
index 5746fa8af6..3031716210 100644
--- a/app/ui/styles/index.css
+++ b/app/ui/styles/index.css
@@ -44,11 +44,29 @@
 
 :root {
   --content-gutter: 2.5rem;
+  --sidebar-width: 14.25rem;
+  --navigation-height: 3.75rem;
+}
+
+@media (max-width: 768px) {
+  :root {
+    --content-gutter: 1.5rem;
+  }
 }
 
 @layer base {
+  html,
+  body,
+  #root {
+    @apply min-h-screen;
+  }
+
+  .msw-banner #content_pane {
+    @apply pb-10;
+  }
+
   body {
-    @apply overflow-y-hidden text-default bg-default;
+    @apply text-default bg-default;
     font-family:
       SuisseIntl,
       -apple-system,
diff --git a/test/e2e/scroll-restore.e2e.ts b/test/e2e/scroll-restore.e2e.ts
index 318b2e8a59..4f85aeb974 100644
--- a/test/e2e/scroll-restore.e2e.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/scroll-restore.e2e.ts
@@ -5,30 +5,34 @@
  *
  * Copyright Oxide Computer Company
  */
-import { expect, test, type Page } from './utils'
+import { expect, expectVisible, test, type Page } from './utils'
 
 async function expectScrollTop(page: Page, expected: number) {
-  const container = page.getByTestId('scroll-container')
-  const getScrollTop = () => container.evaluate((el: HTMLElement) => el.scrollTop)
-  await expect.poll(getScrollTop).toBe(expected)
+  await page.waitForFunction((expected) => window.scrollY === expected, expected)
 }
 
 async function scrollTo(page: Page, to: number) {
-  const container = page.getByTestId('scroll-container')
-  await container.evaluate((el: HTMLElement, to) => el.scrollTo(0, to), to)
+  await page.evaluate((y) => {
+    window.scrollTo(0, y)
+  }, to)
 }
 
 test('scroll restore', async ({ page }) => {
-  // open small window to make scrolling easier
-  await page.setViewportSize({ width: 800, height: 500 })
+  // open short window to make scrolling easier
+  // needs to be wide enough to not require the nav to be opened
+  await page.setViewportSize({ width: 1024, height: 500 })
 
   // nav to disks and scroll it
   await page.goto('/projects/mock-project/disks')
+  // this helps us wait till the page is ready to scroll
+  await expectVisible(page, ['role=heading[name*="Disks"]'])
   await expectScrollTop(page, 0)
   await scrollTo(page, 143)
 
   // nav to snapshots
   await page.getByRole('link', { name: 'Snapshots' }).click()
+  await expectVisible(page, ['role=heading[name*="Snapshots"]'])
+  await expect(page).toHaveURL('/projects/mock-project/snapshots')
   await expectScrollTop(page, 0)
 
   // go back to disks, scroll is restored, scroll it some more
diff --git a/test/e2e/z-index.e2e.ts b/test/e2e/z-index.e2e.ts
index 6379685bc3..a76538da00 100644
--- a/test/e2e/z-index.e2e.ts
+++ b/test/e2e/z-index.e2e.ts
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ test('Dropdown content can scroll off page and doesn’t hide TopBar', async ({
 
   // scroll the page down just enough that the button and the top item are off
   // screen, but the bottom item is not
-  await page.mouse.wheel(0, 480)
+  await page.mouse.wheel(0, 500)
 
   // if we don't do this, the test doesn't wait long enough for the following
   // assertions to become true