diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
index aa2f0ba167b0..548ef1a5461d 100755
--- a/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/virt/libvirt/test_driver.py
@@ -12103,16 +12103,15 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
         mock_hard_reboot.assert_called_once_with(self.context,
                                                  instance, [], None)
 
-    @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.LibvirtDriver._undefine_domain')
     @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.LibvirtDriver.get_info')
     @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.LibvirtDriver._create_domain_and_network')
     @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.LibvirtDriver._get_guest_xml')
     @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.LibvirtDriver.'
                 '_get_instance_disk_info_from_config')
-    @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.LibvirtDriver._destroy')
+    @mock.patch('nova.virt.libvirt.LibvirtDriver.destroy')
     def test_hard_reboot(self, mock_destroy, mock_get_disk_info,
                          mock_get_guest_xml, mock_create_domain_and_network,
-                         mock_get_info, mock_undefine):
+                         mock_get_info):
         self.context.auth_token = True  # any non-None value will suffice
         instance = objects.Instance(**self.test_instance)
         network_info = _fake_network_info(self, 1)
@@ -12160,13 +12159,13 @@ class LibvirtConnTestCase(test.NoDBTestCase,
         for name in ('disk', 'disk.local'):
             self.assertTrue(disks[name].cache.called)
 
-        mock_destroy.assert_called_once_with(instance)
-        mock_undefine.assert_called_once_with(instance)
+        mock_destroy.assert_called_once_with(self.context, instance,
+                network_info, destroy_disks=False,
+                block_device_info=block_device_info)
 
         mock_create_domain_and_network.assert_called_once_with(self.context,
             dummyxml, instance, network_info,
-            block_device_info=block_device_info,
-            reboot=True, vifs_already_plugged=True)
+            block_device_info=block_device_info)
 
     @mock.patch('oslo_utils.fileutils.ensure_tree')
     @mock.patch('oslo_service.loopingcall.FixedIntervalLoopingCall')
diff --git a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
index 407b9daf83f3..33a0f475f465 100644
--- a/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py
@@ -2501,12 +2501,15 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
         re-creates the domain to ensure the reboot happens, as the guest
         OS cannot ignore this action.
         """
-
-        self._destroy(instance)
-        # Domain XML will be redefined so we can safely undefine it
-        # from libvirt. This ensure that such process as create serial
-        # console for guest will run smoothly.
-        self._undefine_domain(instance)
+        # NOTE(mdbooth): In addition to performing a hard reboot of the domain,
+        # the hard reboot operation is relied upon by operators to be an
+        # automated attempt to fix as many things as possible about a
+        # non-functioning instance before resorting to manual intervention.
+        # With this goal in mind, we tear down all the aspects of an instance
+        # we can here without losing data. This allows us to re-initialise from
+        # scratch, and hopefully fix, most aspects of a non-functioning guest.
+        self.destroy(context, instance, network_info, destroy_disks=False,
+                     block_device_info=block_device_info)
 
         # Convert the system metadata to image metadata
         # NOTE(mdbooth): This is a workaround for stateless Nova compute
@@ -2542,9 +2545,7 @@ class LibvirtDriver(driver.ComputeDriver):
         # Initialize all the necessary networking, block devices and
         # start the instance.
         self._create_domain_and_network(context, xml, instance, network_info,
-                                        block_device_info=block_device_info,
-                                        reboot=True,
-                                        vifs_already_plugged=True)
+                                        block_device_info=block_device_info)
         self._prepare_pci_devices_for_use(
             pci_manager.get_instance_pci_devs(instance, 'all'))