diff --git a/sys/kern/kern_shutdown.c b/sys/kern/kern_shutdown.c
index 6011e41d2636..4700e68e53c3 100644
--- a/sys/kern/kern_shutdown.c
+++ b/sys/kern/kern_shutdown.c
@@ -218,9 +218,8 @@ shutdown_nice(int howto)
 		PROC_UNLOCK(initproc);
 	} else {
 		/* No init(8) running, so simply reboot. */
-		kern_reboot(RB_NOSYNC);
+		kern_reboot(howto | RB_NOSYNC);
 	}
-	return;
 }
 
 static void