diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/virt/xenapi/test_vm_utils.py b/nova/tests/unit/virt/xenapi/test_vm_utils.py
index 435d6da514af..ef2d687e8f82 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/virt/xenapi/test_vm_utils.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/virt/xenapi/test_vm_utils.py
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ class GenerateConfigDriveTestCase(VMUtilsTestBase):
     @mock.patch.object(vm_utils, "create_vdi", return_value='vdi_ref')
     @mock.patch.object(vm_utils.instance_metadata, "InstanceMetadata")
     @mock.patch.object(vm_utils.configdrive, 'ConfigDriveBuilder')
-    @mock.patch.object(vm_utils.utils, 'execute')
+    @mock.patch('oslo_concurrency.processutils.execute')
     @mock.patch.object(vm_utils.volume_utils, 'stream_to_vdi')
     @mock.patch.object(vm_utils.os.path, 'getsize', return_value=100)
     @mock.patch.object(vm_utils, 'create_vbd', return_value='vbd_ref')
diff --git a/nova/virt/xenapi/agent.py b/nova/virt/xenapi/agent.py
index 6abfbe168287..d5f060af5d43 100644
--- a/nova/virt/xenapi/agent.py
+++ b/nova/virt/xenapi/agent.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import time
 
 from os_xenapi.client import host_agent
 from os_xenapi.client import XenAPI
+from oslo_concurrency import processutils
 from oslo_log import log as logging
 from oslo_serialization import base64
 from oslo_serialization import jsonutils
@@ -421,8 +422,8 @@ class SimpleDH(object):
                'pass:%s' % self._shared, '-nosalt']
         if decrypt:
             cmd.append('-d')
-        out, err = utils.execute(*cmd,
-                                 process_input=encodeutils.safe_encode(text))
+        out, err = processutils.execute(
+            *cmd, process_input=encodeutils.safe_encode(text))
         if err:
             raise RuntimeError(_('OpenSSL error: %s') % err)
         return out
diff --git a/nova/virt/xenapi/vm_utils.py b/nova/virt/xenapi/vm_utils.py
index 0dadb95287ff..b5394f0e83b6 100644
--- a/nova/virt/xenapi/vm_utils.py
+++ b/nova/virt/xenapi/vm_utils.py
@@ -1155,8 +1155,8 @@ def generate_configdrive(session, context, instance, vm_ref, userdevice,
                 # XAPI can only import a VHD file, so convert to vhd format
                 vhd_file = '%s.vhd' % tmp_file
                 with compute_utils.disk_ops_semaphore:
-                    utils.execute('qemu-img', 'convert', '-Ovpc', tmp_file,
-                                  vhd_file)
+                    processutils.execute('qemu-img', 'convert', '-Ovpc',
+                                         tmp_file, vhd_file)
                 vhd_file_size = os.path.getsize(vhd_file)
                 with open(vhd_file) as file_obj:
                     volume_utils.stream_to_vdi(