diff --git a/instances/test_console_settings_access.py b/instances/test_console_settings_access.py
index a8023269..b9195803 100644
--- a/instances/test_console_settings_access.py
+++ b/instances/test_console_settings_access.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ change console settings, which is the rule update_console enforces: a
 superuser, or an owner with both is_change and is_vnc. In particular, is_staff
 and the global view_instances permission must not reveal the VNC password.
 """
-from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import PropertyMock, patch
 
 from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
 from django.contrib.auth.models import Permission
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ class ConsoleSettingsAccessTestCase(TestCase):
 
     def _detail_page(self, user):
         self.client.force_login(user)
-        with patch("instances.models.wvmInstance") as mock_wvm, patch(
-            "instances.views.utils.check_user_quota", return_value=""
+        with patch("instances.models.wvmInstance") as mock_wvm, patch.object(
+            Compute, "status", new_callable=PropertyMock, return_value=True
         ):
             proxy = mock_wvm.return_value
             proxy.get_memory.return_value = 1024
diff --git a/instances/test_detail_unreachable.py b/instances/test_detail_unreachable.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..cc082f13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/instances/test_detail_unreachable.py
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+"""The page of a VM whose host cannot be reached sends the user to the list
+with a message, instead of the error page with libvirt's connection error."""
+
+from unittest.mock import PropertyMock, patch
+
+from accounts.models import UserInstance
+from computes.models import Compute
+from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
+from django.contrib.messages import get_messages
+from django.test import TestCase
+from django.urls import reverse
+from instances.models import Instance
+
+ERROR = "Connection Failed: ssh: connect to host 10.0.0.9 port 22: No route to host"
+
+
+class DetailOfUnreachableHostTests(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.compute = Compute.objects.create(name="far-host", hostname="10.0.0.9", login="root", password="", type=2)
+        self.vm = Instance.objects.create(compute=self.compute, name="far-vm", uuid="56565656-0000-0000-0000-000000000000")
+        self.owner = get_user_model().objects.create_user("far-owner", password="pw")
+        UserInstance.objects.create(user=self.owner, instance=self.vm)
+
+    def get(self, user):
+        self.client.force_login(user)
+        with patch.object(Compute, "status", new_callable=PropertyMock, return_value=False), patch.object(
+            Compute, "connection_error", new_callable=PropertyMock, return_value=ERROR
+        ), patch("instances.models.wvmInstance", side_effect=AssertionError("VM read on a down host")):
+            response = self.client.get(reverse("instances:instance", args=[self.vm.id]))
+        self.assertRedirects(response, reverse("instances:index"), fetch_redirect_response=False)
+        return [str(m) for m in get_messages(response.wsgi_request)]
+
+    def test_owner_is_told_without_host_details(self):
+        messages = self.get(self.owner)
+        self.assertEqual(len(messages), 1)
+        self.assertIn("far-vm", messages[0])
+        self.assertNotIn("far-host", messages[0])
+        self.assertNotIn("10.0.0.9", messages[0])
+
+    def test_superuser_sees_the_host_and_its_error(self):
+        admin = get_user_model().objects.create_superuser("far-admin", password="pw", email="far@example.com")
+        messages = self.get(admin)
+        self.assertEqual(len(messages), 1)
+        self.assertIn("far-host", messages[0])
+        self.assertIn(ERROR, messages[0])
diff --git a/instances/test_quota.py b/instances/test_quota.py
index 28d81d6c..e64f8072 100644
--- a/instances/test_quota.py
+++ b/instances/test_quota.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 cannot verify (fail closed); requests that add nothing are not checked."""
 
 from types import SimpleNamespace
-from unittest.mock import patch
+from unittest.mock import PropertyMock, patch
 
 from accounts.models import UserAttributes, UserInstance
 from appsettings.settings import get_settings
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ class DetailPageQuotaTests(TestCase):
         self.client.force_login(user)
         with patch("instances.models.wvmInstance") as wvm, patch(
             "instances.views.utils.check_user_quota", side_effect=AssertionError("quota checked on GET")
-        ):
+        ), patch.object(Compute, "status", new_callable=PropertyMock, return_value=True):
             proxy = wvm.return_value
             proxy.get_memory.return_value = 1024
             proxy.get_cur_memory.return_value = 1024
diff --git a/instances/views.py b/instances/views.py
index cd7dad54..59ae796b 100755
--- a/instances/views.py
+++ b/instances/views.py
@@ -82,6 +82,19 @@ def index(request):
 def instance(request, pk):
     instance: Instance = get_instance(request.user, pk)
     compute: Compute = instance.compute
+    # the page reads the VM from libvirt throughout; without the host it would
+    # be the error page, with a connection error that names the host
+    if compute.status is not True:
+        if request.user.is_superuser or request.user.has_perm("instances.view_instances"):
+            msg = _("The host %(host)s of '%(name)s' cannot be reached: %(error)s") % {
+                "host": compute.name,
+                "name": instance.name,
+                "error": compute.connection_error,
+            }
+        else:
+            msg = _("The host of '%(name)s' cannot be reached right now.") % {"name": instance.name}
+        messages.error(request, msg)
+        return redirect(reverse("instances:index"))
     computes = Compute.objects.all().order_by("name")
     computes_count = computes.count()
     users = User.objects.all().order_by("username")