diff --git a/src/brand/bhyve/support b/src/brand/bhyve/support
index d68cb929b..9eef77c6f 100755
--- a/src/brand/bhyve/support
+++ b/src/brand/bhyve/support
@@ -21,15 +21,29 @@ bhyve_shutdown()
 {
 	typeset -i delay="${1:-60}"
 	log "Killing bhyve process - %d" $delay
-	pkill -z "$ZONENAME" bhyve
+	pkill -TERM -z "$ZONENAME" bhyve
 	while (( delay > 0 )) && pgrep -z "$ZONENAME" bhyve >/dev/null; do
-		((delay % 30 == 0)) && log "Waiting for bhyve to exit"
+		((delay % 5 == 0)) && log "Waiting for bhyve to exit"
 		((delay = delay - 1))
 		sleep 1
 	done
 	log "bhyve shutdown done"
 }
 
+bhyve_halt()
+{
+	typeset -i force_halt=0
+	while pgrep -z "$ZONENAME" bhyve >/dev/null; do
+		force_halt=1
+		log "Force bhyve poweroff"
+		/usr/sbin/bhyvectl --vm=$ZONENAME --force-poweroff
+		sleep 5
+	done
+	if ((force_halt)); then
+		log "bhyve poweroff done"
+	fi
+}
+
 cmd="${1:?cmd}"; shift
 ZONENAME="${1:?zonename}"; shift
 [ -n "$1" ] && { ZONEPATH="$1"; shift; }
@@ -50,7 +64,8 @@ case $cmd in
 		;;
 	    $ZONE_STATE_RUNNING:$ZONE_STATE_CMD_HALT)
 		# halting (even as part of rebooting)
-		bhyve_shutdown 1800
+		bhyve_shutdown 20
+		bhyve_halt
 		;;
 	esac
 	;;