diff --git a/pkg/open-vm-tools/Dockerfile b/pkg/open-vm-tools/Dockerfile
index 57ae2ce66..5ed20d3d8 100644
--- a/pkg/open-vm-tools/Dockerfile
+++ b/pkg/open-vm-tools/Dockerfile
@@ -13,4 +13,7 @@ ENTRYPOINT []
 CMD []
 WORKDIR /
 COPY --from=mirror /out/ /
+COPY scripts /etc/vmware-tools/scripts
 CMD ["/usr/bin/vmtoolsd"]
+
+LABEL org.mobyproject.config='{"pid": "host", "capabilities": ["CAP_SYS_BOOT"]}'
diff --git a/pkg/open-vm-tools/scripts/poweroff-vm-default.d/poweroff.sh b/pkg/open-vm-tools/scripts/poweroff-vm-default.d/poweroff.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..73701e006
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/open-vm-tools/scripts/poweroff-vm-default.d/poweroff.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# send SIGTERM to the init system (PID 1), which causes a clean VM host-initiated shutdown
+kill -s SIGTERM 1
+exit 0