boot-finished file not created when using power_state to turn off vm after cloud-init finishes

[alexanderankin]

Bug report

when i add power_state from here to my config, the boot-finished file fails to be created, and so it is not possible to tell if cloud-init succeeded

Steps to reproduce the problem

#cloud-config
runcmd:
  - |
    bash -c "
    trap 'shutdown now' ERR
    true
    "

# https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference/yaml_examples/power_state_change.html
power_state:
  delay: 1
  mode: poweroff
  message: Bye Bye
  timeout: 30
  condition: true

process:

tmp=$(mktemp)
tmp1=$(mktemp)
echo "instance-id: test-true" > $tmp1
xorriso, -as, mkisofs, -output, $tmp, -volid, cidata, -joliet, -rock, -graft-points, user-data=src/test/resources/true.cloud-config.yaml, meta-data=$tmp1


noble="path to qemu-img overlay of noble image from ubuntu cloudimages"
qemu-system-aarch64, -cpu, host, -accel, hvf, -machine, virt,highmem=on, -m, 3072, -smp, 2, -drive, file=$noble,format=qcow2,if=virtio, -drive, file=$tmp,format=raw,if=virtio, -bios, /opt/homebrew/share/qemu/edk2-aarch64-code.fd, -netdev, user,id=net0,hostfwd=tcp::51656-:22, -device, virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0, -display, none, -serial, mon:stdio, -device, virtio-rng-pci

then launch again with this cloud-init:

#cloud-config
ssh_pwauth: true
chpasswd:
  list: |
    ubuntu:ubuntu
  expire: false

now ssh because you can:

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null ubuntu@127.0.0.1 -p 51656

and observe that you only see one boot-finished file:

find /var/lib/cloud/instances -name boot-finished

Environment details

• Cloud-init version: presumably latest? im using the latest cloudimages
• Operating System Distribution: ubuntu
• Cloud provider, platform or installer type: ubuntu, using the one already built into cloud images

cloud-init logs

there are a lot but i think this is the most relevant part:

Details

``` [ 8.954317] cloud-init[928]: Cloud-init v. 25.1.4-0ubuntu0~24.04.1 running 'modules:config' at Wed, 11 Feb 2026 07:30:41 +0000. Up 8.92 seconds. [ OK ] Started ModemManager.service - Modem Manager. [ OK ] Started snapd.service - Snap Daemon. Starting systemd-timedated.service - Time & Date Service... [ OK ] Started systemd-timedated.service - Time & Date Service. [ OK ] Finished pollinate.service - Polli…the pseudo random number generator. [ OK ] Finished cloud-config.service - Cloud-init: Config Stage. [ OK ] Finished snapd.seeded.service - Wait until snapd is fully seeded. [ OK ] Reached target multi-user.target - Multi-User System. [ OK ] Reached target graphical.target - Graphical Interface. Starting cloud-final.service - Cloud-init: Final Stage... Starting systemd-update-utmp-runle…- Record Runlevel Change in UTMP... [ OK ] Finished systemd-update-utmp-runle…e - Record Runlevel Change in UTMP. [ 10.276450] cloud-init[984]: Cloud-init v. 25.1.4-0ubuntu0~24.04.1 running 'modules:final' at Wed, 11 Feb 2026 07:30:42 +0000. Up 10.26 seconds. ci-info: no authorized SSH keys fingerprints found for user ubuntu. <14>Feb 11 07:30:42 cloud-init: ############################################################# <14>Feb 11 07:30:42 cloud-init: -----BEGIN SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS----- <14>Feb 11 07:30:42 cloud-init: 256 SHA256:nA0slaF+QOlVPu9fzrTd2VCaiDSSm0zWg5EJF/uwN7w root@ubuntu (ECDSA) <14>Feb 11 07:30:42 cloud-init: 256 SHA256:PhmR0+Rme5UIYeq3TpuZT18lst7U+dFGIFwnlIb3JXc root@ubuntu (ED25519) <14>Feb 11 07:30:42 cloud-init: 3072 SHA256:/BFFNPC/V/L3wmt5957JNZfrTZgpoiNagcDBe/zzM/c root@ubuntu (RSA) <14>Feb 11 07:30:42 cloud-init: -----END SSH HOST KEY FINGERPRINTS----- <14>Feb 11 07:30:42 cloud-init: ############################################################# -----BEGIN SSH HOST KEY KEYS----- ecdsa-sha2-nistp256 AAAAE2VjZHNhLXNoYTItbmlzdHAyNTYAAAAIbmlzdHAyNTYAAABBBHFYUYj/Zig/3UL/MDDLxKh5aIiVdYdH06qGXuukL8oOZY1zWxaikc+G6PJFTDEQIWa00Sq0s64cZTwhO1EytcM= root@ubuntu ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIK7LQSagUxs9UWK0vzDTRq5zMLJSSn/y7tuH/B/FTXbY root@ubuntu ssh-rsa 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 root@ubuntu -----END SSH HOST KEY KEYS----- [ 10.319150] cloud-init[984]: Cloud-init v. 25.1.4-0ubuntu0~24.04.1 finished at Wed, 11 Feb 2026 07:30:42 +0000. Datasource DataSourceNoCloud [seed=/dev/vdb]. Up 10.31 seconds [ OK ] Finished cloud-final.service - Cloud-init: Final Stage. [ OK ] Reached target cloud-init.target - Cloud-init target. [ OK ] Removed slice system-modprobe.slice - Slice /system/modprobe. [ OK ] Stopped target cloud-init.target - Cloud-init target. ```

[alexanderankin]

Its safe to say that unless anybody else corroborates or chimes in that it is not obvious that an issue exists that needs fixing.