diff --git a/daemons/ganeti-noded b/daemons/ganeti-noded
index f2b85e7d724f6cdb21f5309c9e5355e01bcdd756..bfba3929a18fce04dc0d96b071cb5c592726708b 100755
--- a/daemons/ganeti-noded
+++ b/daemons/ganeti-noded
@@ -392,7 +392,7 @@ class NodeHttpServer(http.server.HttpServer):
 
     """
     instance = objects.Instance.FromDict(params[0])
-    return backend.ShutdownInstance(instance)
+    return backend.InstanceShutdown(instance)
 
   @staticmethod
   def perspective_instance_start(params):
diff --git a/lib/backend.py b/lib/backend.py
index 48d0dc8ca794520ad77226bfc531ff338252dc90..1c9cfdbaaff833f9525319db0fb1990c288f521e 100644
--- a/lib/backend.py
+++ b/lib/backend.py
@@ -886,7 +886,7 @@ def StartInstance(instance, extra_args):
   return (True, "Instance started successfully")
 
 
-def ShutdownInstance(instance):
+def InstanceShutdown(instance):
   """Shut an instance down.
 
   @note: this functions uses polling with a hardcoded timeout.
@@ -901,14 +901,15 @@ def ShutdownInstance(instance):
   running_instances = GetInstanceList([hv_name])
 
   if instance.name not in running_instances:
-    return True
+    return (True, "Instance already stopped")
 
   hyper = hypervisor.GetHypervisor(hv_name)
   try:
     hyper.StopInstance(instance)
   except errors.HypervisorError, err:
-    logging.error("Failed to stop instance: %s" % err)
-    return False
+    msg = "Failed to stop instance %s: %s" % (instance.name, err)
+    logging.error(msg)
+    return (False, msg)
 
   # test every 10secs for 2min
 
@@ -925,18 +926,20 @@ def ShutdownInstance(instance):
     try:
       hyper.StopInstance(instance, force=True)
     except errors.HypervisorError, err:
-      logging.exception("Failed to stop instance: %s" % err)
-      return False
+      msg = "Failed to force stop instance %s: %s" % (instance.name, err)
+      logging.error(msg)
+      return (False, msg)
 
     time.sleep(1)
     if instance.name in GetInstanceList([hv_name]):
-      logging.error("Could not shutdown instance '%s' even by destroy",
-                    instance.name)
-      return False
+      msg = ("Could not shutdown instance %s even by destroy" %
+             instance.name)
+      logging.error(msg)
+      return (False, msg)
 
   _RemoveBlockDevLinks(instance.name, instance.disks)
 
-  return True
+  return (True, "Instance has been shutdown successfully")
 
 
 def InstanceReboot(instance, reboot_type, extra_args):
@@ -975,7 +978,7 @@ def InstanceReboot(instance, reboot_type, extra_args):
       return (False, msg)
   elif reboot_type == constants.INSTANCE_REBOOT_HARD:
     try:
-      ShutdownInstance(instance)
+      InstanceShutdown(instance)
       StartInstance(instance, extra_args)
     except errors.HypervisorError, err:
       msg = "Failed to hard reboot instance %s: %s" % (instance.name, err)
diff --git a/lib/cmdlib.py b/lib/cmdlib.py
index 954fd1d82a31a2fb8afa9b576bd9e91123b134e3..a06decbc59ab0ac27b6e74a429caa956c4028ac4 100644
--- a/lib/cmdlib.py
+++ b/lib/cmdlib.py
@@ -2796,8 +2796,11 @@ class LURebootInstance(LogicalUnit):
       if msg:
         raise errors.OpExecError("Could not reboot instance: %s" % msg)
     else:
-      if not self.rpc.call_instance_shutdown(node_current, instance):
-        raise errors.OpExecError("could not shutdown instance for full reboot")
+      result = self.rpc.call_instance_shutdown(node_current, instance)
+      msg = result.RemoteFailMsg()
+      if msg:
+        raise errors.OpExecError("Could not shutdown instance for"
+                                 " full reboot: %s" % msg)
       _ShutdownInstanceDisks(self, instance)
       _StartInstanceDisks(self, instance, ignore_secondaries)
       result = self.rpc.call_instance_start(node_current, instance, extra_args)
@@ -2851,8 +2854,9 @@ class LUShutdownInstance(LogicalUnit):
     node_current = instance.primary_node
     self.cfg.MarkInstanceDown(instance.name)
     result = self.rpc.call_instance_shutdown(node_current, instance)
-    if result.failed or not result.data:
-      self.proc.LogWarning("Could not shutdown instance")
+    msg = result.RemoteFailMsg()
+    if msg:
+      self.proc.LogWarning("Could not shutdown instance: %s" % msg)
 
     _ShutdownInstanceDisks(self, instance)
 
@@ -3102,12 +3106,14 @@ class LURemoveInstance(LogicalUnit):
                  instance.name, instance.primary_node)
 
     result = self.rpc.call_instance_shutdown(instance.primary_node, instance)
-    if result.failed or not result.data:
+    msg = result.RemoteFailMsg()
+    if msg:
       if self.op.ignore_failures:
-        feedback_fn("Warning: can't shutdown instance")
+        feedback_fn("Warning: can't shutdown instance: %s" % msg)
       else:
-        raise errors.OpExecError("Could not shutdown instance %s on node %s" %
-                                 (instance.name, instance.primary_node))
+        raise errors.OpExecError("Could not shutdown instance %s on"
+                                 " node %s: %s" %
+                                 (instance.name, instance.primary_node, msg))
 
     logging.info("Removing block devices for instance %s", instance.name)
 
@@ -3454,15 +3460,17 @@ class LUFailoverInstance(LogicalUnit):
                  instance.name, source_node)
 
     result = self.rpc.call_instance_shutdown(source_node, instance)
-    if result.failed or not result.data:
+    msg = result.RemoteFailMsg()
+    if msg:
       if self.op.ignore_consistency:
         self.proc.LogWarning("Could not shutdown instance %s on node %s."
-                             " Proceeding"
-                             " anyway. Please make sure node %s is down",
-                             instance.name, source_node, source_node)
+                             " Proceeding anyway. Please make sure node"
+                             " %s is down. Error details: %s",
+                             instance.name, source_node, source_node, msg)
       else:
-        raise errors.OpExecError("Could not shutdown instance %s on node %s" %
-                                 (instance.name, source_node))
+        raise errors.OpExecError("Could not shutdown instance %s on"
+                                 " node %s: %s" %
+                                 (instance.name, source_node, msg))
 
     feedback_fn("* deactivating the instance's disks on source node")
     if not _ShutdownInstanceDisks(self, instance, ignore_primary=True):
@@ -6083,10 +6091,11 @@ class LUExportInstance(LogicalUnit):
     if self.op.shutdown:
       # shutdown the instance, but not the disks
       result = self.rpc.call_instance_shutdown(src_node, instance)
-      result.Raise()
-      if not result.data:
-        raise errors.OpExecError("Could not shutdown instance %s on node %s" %
-                                 (instance.name, src_node))
+      msg = result.RemoteFailMsg()
+      if msg:
+        raise errors.OpExecError("Could not shutdown instance %s on"
+                                 " node %s: %s" %
+                                 (instance.name, src_node, msg))
 
     vgname = self.cfg.GetVGName()