diff --git a/tests/vm/basevm.py b/tests/vm/basevm.py
index ceecc351f5..896e9d07c1 100755
--- a/tests/vm/basevm.py
+++ b/tests/vm/basevm.py
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ class BaseVM(object):
     name = "#base"
     # The guest architecture, to be overridden by subclasses
     arch = "#arch"
+    # command to halt the guest, can be overridden by subclasses
+    poweroff = "poweroff"
     def __init__(self, debug=False, vcpus=None):
         self._guest = None
         self._tmpdir = os.path.realpath(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="vm-test-",
@@ -203,6 +205,10 @@ def shutdown(self):
     def wait(self):
         self._guest.wait()
 
+    def graceful_shutdown(self):
+        self.ssh_root(self.poweroff)
+        self._guest.wait()
+
     def qmp(self, *args, **kwargs):
         return self._guest.qmp(*args, **kwargs)
 
@@ -279,11 +285,13 @@ def main(vmcls):
         traceback.print_exc()
         return 2
 
-    if args.interactive:
-        if vm.ssh(*cmd) == 0:
-            return 0
+    exitcode = 0
+    if vm.ssh(*cmd) != 0:
+        exitcode = 3
+    if exitcode != 0 and args.interactive:
         vm.ssh()
-        return 3
-    else:
-        if vm.ssh(*cmd) != 0:
-            return 3
+
+    if not args.snapshot:
+        vm.graceful_shutdown()
+
+    return exitcode