# Rocky 9 KVM host - reboot does not suspend VM's, hard shutdown instead

**URL:** <https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/rocky-9-kvm-host-reboot-does-not-suspend-vms-hard-shutdown-instead/20308>\
**Category:** Rocky Linux Help & Support\
**Tags:** rocky-linux-9\
**Created:** [March 24, 2026, 6:43pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/rocky-9-kvm-host-reboot-does-not-suspend-vms-hard-shutdown-instead/20308 "2026-03-24T18:43:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![RianKellyIT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RianKellyIT](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/RianKellyIT)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2026, 11:30am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/rocky-9-kvm-host-reboot-does-not-suspend-vms-hard-shutdown-instead/20308/6 "2026-04-01T11:30:17Z")

</div>

The missing piece is `libvirt-guests.service` - this is the systemd unit that handles graceful VM shutdown or suspend when the host powers off. Without it configured, the kernel simply kills all processes including qemu instances when shutdown is initiated, which is why the VMs are seeing a “pulled plug” event.

First check if the service exists and is enabled:

```auto
systemctl status libvirt-guests.service

```

If it’s disabled or not running, enable it:

```auto
systemctl enable --now libvirt-guests.service

```

Then configure its behavior in `/etc/sysconfig/libvirt-guests`. The key settings:

```auto
# What to do to each guest on host shutdown
# Options: suspend / shutdown / none
ON_SHUTDOWN=shutdown

# How long to wait for each guest to shut down before giving up (seconds)
SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT=300

# What to do to guests on host boot
ON_BOOT=start

```

If you want behavior similar to Hyper-V’s save/resume, use `ON_SHUTDOWN=suspend`. This saves the VM’s memory state to disk and restores it on next boot, so the guest sees no interruption. The tradeoff is disk space and time during host shutdown.

`ON_SHUTDOWN=shutdown` sends a clean ACPI shutdown signal and waits up to SHUTDOWN\_TIMEOUT seconds for the guest to power off gracefully. This is what Windows Server and most Linux guests handle well since they receive a proper shutdown command rather than a hard kill.

After editing `/etc/sysconfig/libvirt-guests`, restart the service and test with a host reboot:

```auto
systemctl restart libvirt-guests.service

```

Your Windows VM should receive a normal ACPI shutdown signal next time the host reboots.

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_[View the full topic](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/rocky-9-kvm-host-reboot-does-not-suspend-vms-hard-shutdown-instead/20308)._