diff --git a/api/src/main/java/com/cloud/agent/api/to/VirtualMachineTO.java b/api/src/main/java/com/cloud/agent/api/to/VirtualMachineTO.java
index e26cc1e9f029..bdde2a3fbb62 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/com/cloud/agent/api/to/VirtualMachineTO.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/com/cloud/agent/api/to/VirtualMachineTO.java
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ public class VirtualMachineTO {
     private String metadataManufacturer;
     private String metadataProductName;
     private VirtualMachineMetadataTO metadata;
+    private boolean excludeMetadata;
 
     public VirtualMachineTO(long id, String instanceName, VirtualMachine.Type type, int cpus, Integer speed, long minRam, long maxRam, BootloaderType bootloader,
             String os, boolean enableHA, boolean limitCpuUse, String vncPassword) {
@@ -503,6 +504,10 @@ public void setMetadata(VirtualMachineMetadataTO metadata) {
         this.metadata = metadata;
     }
 
+    public boolean isExcludeMetadata() { return excludeMetadata; }
+
+    public void setExcludeMetadata(boolean excludeMetadata) { this.excludeMetadata = excludeMetadata;}
+
     @Override
     public String toString() {
         return String.format("VM {id: \"%s\", name: \"%s\", uuid: \"%s\", type: \"%s\"}", id, name, uuid, type);
diff --git a/api/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/vm/UnmanagedVMsManager.java b/api/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/vm/UnmanagedVMsManager.java
index b6233b9c2704..235c3299f65e 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/vm/UnmanagedVMsManager.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/vm/UnmanagedVMsManager.java
@@ -69,6 +69,14 @@ public interface UnmanagedVMsManager extends VmImportService, UnmanageVMService,
             true,
             ConfigKey.Scope.Global,
             null);
+    ConfigKey<Boolean> VmUnmanageLibvirtMetadataCleanup = new ConfigKey<>(Boolean.class,
+            "vm.unmanage.libvirt.metadata.cleanup",
+            "Advanced",
+            "true",
+            "Specifies whether metadata should be cleaned up when a VM is unmanaged, applicable to the KVM hypervisor.",
+            true,
+            ConfigKey.Scope.Global,
+            null);
 
     static boolean isSupported(Hypervisor.HypervisorType hypervisorType) {
         return hypervisorType == VMware || hypervisorType == KVM;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/cloud/agent/api/UnmanageInstanceCommand.java b/core/src/main/java/com/cloud/agent/api/UnmanageInstanceCommand.java
index dd504b9ea265..e5540c2e80de 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/cloud/agent/api/UnmanageInstanceCommand.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/cloud/agent/api/UnmanageInstanceCommand.java
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ public class UnmanageInstanceCommand extends Command {
     boolean executeInSequence = false;
     VirtualMachineTO vm;
     boolean isConfigDriveAttached;
+    boolean isLibvirtMetadataCleanUpEnabled;
 
     @Override
     public boolean executeInSequence() {
@@ -58,4 +59,10 @@ public boolean isConfigDriveAttached() {
     public void setConfigDriveAttached(boolean configDriveAttached) {
         isConfigDriveAttached = configDriveAttached;
     }
+
+    public boolean isLibvirtMetadataCleanupEnabled() {return isLibvirtMetadataCleanUpEnabled;}
+
+    public void setLibvirtMetadataCleanup(boolean libvirtMetadataCleanUp) {
+        isLibvirtMetadataCleanUpEnabled = libvirtMetadataCleanUp;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/engine/orchestration/src/main/java/com/cloud/vm/VirtualMachineManagerImpl.java b/engine/orchestration/src/main/java/com/cloud/vm/VirtualMachineManagerImpl.java
index b3e672e2c17d..ebd02b598364 100755
--- a/engine/orchestration/src/main/java/com/cloud/vm/VirtualMachineManagerImpl.java
+++ b/engine/orchestration/src/main/java/com/cloud/vm/VirtualMachineManagerImpl.java
@@ -2091,6 +2091,8 @@ Long persistDomainForKVM(VMInstanceVO vm, Long paramHostId) {
             unmanageInstanceCommand = new UnmanageInstanceCommand(vmName);
             unmanageInstanceCommand.setConfigDriveAttached(vmInstanceDetailsDao.findDetail(vm.getId(), VmDetailConstants.CONFIG_DRIVE_LOCATION) != null);
         }
+        boolean isEnabled = UnmanagedVMsManager.VmUnmanageLibvirtMetadataCleanup.value();
+        unmanageInstanceCommand.setLibvirtMetadataCleanup(isEnabled);
 
         logger.debug("Selected host ID: {} to persist domain XML for Instance: {}.", agentHostId, vmName);
         try {
diff --git a/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/LibvirtComputingResource.java b/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/LibvirtComputingResource.java
index fbfe3ef20eb0..74b318587ba3 100644
--- a/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/LibvirtComputingResource.java
+++ b/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/LibvirtComputingResource.java
@@ -3014,7 +3014,8 @@ private void configureVM(VirtualMachineTO vmTO, LibvirtVMDef vm, Map<String, Str
         vm.addComp(createDevicesDef(vmTO, guest, vcpus, isUefiEnabled));
 
         MetadataDef metaDef;
-        if ((metaDef = createMetadataDef(vmTO)) != null) {
+        boolean excludeMetadata = vmTO.isExcludeMetadata();
+        if (!excludeMetadata && (metaDef = createMetadataDef(vmTO)) != null) {
             vm.addComp(metaDef);
         }
 
diff --git a/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/wrapper/LibvirtUnmanageInstanceCommandWrapper.java b/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/wrapper/LibvirtUnmanageInstanceCommandWrapper.java
index 33ad274b8d1a..2d4344b1adf4 100644
--- a/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/wrapper/LibvirtUnmanageInstanceCommandWrapper.java
+++ b/plugins/hypervisors/kvm/src/main/java/com/cloud/hypervisor/kvm/resource/wrapper/LibvirtUnmanageInstanceCommandWrapper.java
@@ -67,6 +67,9 @@ public final class LibvirtUnmanageInstanceCommandWrapper extends CommandWrapper<
     public Answer execute(final UnmanageInstanceCommand command, final LibvirtComputingResource libvirtComputingResource) {
         String instanceName = command.getInstanceName();
         VirtualMachineTO vmSpec = command.getVm();
+        if (command.isLibvirtMetadataCleanupEnabled()) {
+            vmSpec.setExcludeMetadata(true);
+        }
         final LibvirtUtilitiesHelper libvirtUtilitiesHelper = libvirtComputingResource.getLibvirtUtilitiesHelper();
         logger.debug("Attempting to unmanage KVM instance: {}", instanceName);
         Domain dom = null;
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/vm/UnmanagedVMsManagerImpl.java b/server/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/vm/UnmanagedVMsManagerImpl.java
index 13fa2608016c..3145a028203e 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/vm/UnmanagedVMsManagerImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/vm/UnmanagedVMsManagerImpl.java
@@ -3037,7 +3037,8 @@ public ConfigKey<?>[] getConfigKeys() {
                 ThreadsOnMSToImportVMwareVMFiles,
                 ThreadsOnKVMHostToImportVMwareVMFiles,
                 ConvertVmwareInstanceToKvmExtraParamsAllowed,
-                ConvertVmwareInstanceToKvmExtraParamsAllowedList
+                ConvertVmwareInstanceToKvmExtraParamsAllowedList,
+                VmUnmanageLibvirtMetadataCleanup
         };
     }
 }