diff --git a/otautil/include/otautil/sysutil.h b/otautil/include/otautil/sysutil.h
index d0d2e67d..5c64cff1 100644
--- a/otautil/include/otautil/sysutil.h
+++ b/otautil/include/otautil/sysutil.h
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ class MemMapping {
 [[noreturn]] void Reboot(std::string_view target);
 
 // Triggers a shutdown.
-bool Shutdown(std::string_view target);
+[[noreturn]] void Shutdown(std::string_view target);
 
 // Returns a null-terminated char* array, where the elements point to the C-strings in the given
 // vector, plus an additional nullptr at the end. This is a helper function that facilitates
diff --git a/otautil/sysutil.cpp b/otautil/sysutil.cpp
index b3ead973..2c7752e9 100644
--- a/otautil/sysutil.cpp
+++ b/otautil/sysutil.cpp
@@ -233,9 +233,13 @@ void Reboot(std::string_view target) {
   while (true) pause();
 }
 
-bool Shutdown(std::string_view target) {
+void Shutdown(std::string_view target) {
   std::string cmd = "shutdown," + std::string(target);
-  return android::base::SetProperty(ANDROID_RB_PROPERTY, cmd);
+  if (!android::base::SetProperty(ANDROID_RB_PROPERTY, cmd)) {
+    LOG(FATAL) << "Shutdown failed";
+  }
+
+  while (true) pause();
 }
 
 std::vector<char*> StringVectorToNullTerminatedArray(const std::vector<std::string>& args) {