diff --git a/instances/templates/instance_actions.html b/instances/templates/instance_actions.html
index 38698843..8ee27d74 100644
--- a/instances/templates/instance_actions.html
+++ b/instances/templates/instance_actions.html
@@ -39,7 +39,9 @@
     {% elif "force_off" in actions %}
         <form action="{% url 'instances:force_off' instance.id %}" method="post" style="display:inline;">
             {% csrf_token %}
-            <button type="submit" class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary" title="{% trans "Force Off" %}">{% bs_icon 'power' %}</button>
+            <button type="submit" class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary" title="{% trans "Force Off" %}"
+                    data-confirm="{% blocktrans with name=instance.name %}Force off {{ name }}? It stops at once, as after a power cut; what the guest has not written to disk is lost.{% endblocktrans %}"
+                    onclick="return confirm(this.dataset.confirm)">{% bs_icon 'power' %}</button>
         </form>
     {% else %}
         <button class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary disabled" title="{% trans "Power Off" %}" disabled>{% bs_icon 'power' %}</button>
@@ -48,7 +50,9 @@
     {% if "powercycle" in actions %}
         <form action="{% url 'instances:powercycle' instance.id %}" method="post" style="display:inline;">
             {% csrf_token %}
-            <button type="submit" class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary" title="{% trans "Power Cycle" %}">{% bs_icon 'repeat' %}</button>
+            <button type="submit" class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary" title="{% trans "Power Cycle" %}"
+                    data-confirm="{% blocktrans with name=instance.name %}Power cycle {{ name }}? It stops at once, as after a power cut, and starts again; what the guest has not written to disk is lost.{% endblocktrans %}"
+                    onclick="return confirm(this.dataset.confirm)">{% bs_icon 'repeat' %}</button>
         </form>
     {% else %}
         <button class="btn btn-sm btn-secondary disabled" title="{% trans "Power Cycle" %}" disabled>{% bs_icon 'repeat' %}</button>
diff --git a/instances/tests/test_states.py b/instances/tests/test_states.py
index d40b79f6..6654415d 100644
--- a/instances/tests/test_states.py
+++ b/instances/tests/test_states.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from django.test import TestCase
 from django.urls import reverse
 from instances.models import Instance
 from instances.states import allowed_actions
+from lxml import html
 
 LABELS = {0: "No state", 1: "Active", 2: "Blocked", 3: "Suspended", 4: "Shutting down", 5: "Off", 6: "Crashed", 7: "PM suspended"}
 # actions offered per state, for a superuser
@@ -89,6 +90,18 @@ class StateTests(TestCase):
                 with self.subTest(url=url, state=state):
                     self.assertEqual(self.offered(page, vm), ACTIONS[state])
 
+    def test_forced_power_actions_in_the_lists_ask_first(self):
+        # one click in a list row would cut the VM off as a power failure does
+        for url in (reverse("instances:index"), reverse("instances", args=[self.compute.id])):
+            page = html.fromstring(self.get(self.admin, url))
+            for state, vm in self.vms.items():
+                for action in {"force_off", "powercycle"} & ACTIONS[state]:
+                    button = page.xpath(f"//form[@action='{reverse(f'instances:{action}', args=[vm.id])}']//button")[0]
+                    with self.subTest(url=url, vm=vm.name, action=action):
+                        self.assertEqual(button.get("onclick"), "return confirm(this.dataset.confirm)")
+                        self.assertIn(vm.name, button.get("data-confirm"))
+                        self.assertIn("power cut", button.get("data-confirm"))
+
     def test_owner_is_not_offered_suspend_or_resume(self):
         # both views are for superusers only; a VM an administrator suspended
         # stays as it is for its owner, as on the VM page