diff --git a/virtcontainers/qemu.go b/virtcontainers/qemu.go
index e4d4ff78a8..38836e55ac 100644
--- a/virtcontainers/qemu.go
+++ b/virtcontainers/qemu.go
@@ -641,6 +641,7 @@ func (q *qemu) stopSandbox() error {
 	span, _ := q.trace("stopSandbox")
 	defer span.Finish()
 
+	defer q.cleanupVM()
 	q.Logger().Info("Stopping Sandbox")
 
 	err := q.qmpSetup()
@@ -654,6 +655,11 @@ func (q *qemu) stopSandbox() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (q *qemu) cleanupVM() error {
+
 	// cleanup vm path
 	dir := filepath.Join(RunVMStoragePath, q.id)