diff --git a/src/metadataserver/user_data/templates/snippets/maas_ipmi_autodetect_tool.py b/src/metadataserver/user_data/templates/snippets/maas_ipmi_autodetect_tool.py
index f8ca88467..530bc7d15 100755
--- a/src/metadataserver/user_data/templates/snippets/maas_ipmi_autodetect_tool.py
+++ b/src/metadataserver/user_data/templates/snippets/maas_ipmi_autodetect_tool.py
@@ -33,7 +33,11 @@ def detect_ipmi():
 
 
 def is_host_moonshot():
-    output = subprocess.check_output(["ipmitool", "raw", "06", "01"])
+    (status, output) = subprocess.getstatusoutput(
+        ["ipmitool", "raw", "06", "01"]
+    )
+    if status != 0:
+        return False
     # 14 is the code that identifies a machine as a moonshot
     if output.split()[0] == "14":
         return True