diff --git a/libexec/rc/rc.d/virtual_oss b/libexec/rc/rc.d/virtual_oss
index 07f81aeed4b..dd3bbe41c09 100644
--- a/libexec/rc/rc.d/virtual_oss
+++ b/libexec/rc/rc.d/virtual_oss
@@ -76,8 +76,10 @@ stop_instance()
 	if [ -z "${instance_args}" ]; then
 		warn "no such config: ${config}"
 	else
+		pid="$(cat "${pidpath}/${config}.pid")"
 		startmsg -n "Stopping virtual_oss config: ${config}: "
-		kill "$(cat "${pidpath}/${config}.pid")"
+		kill "${pid}"
+		pwait "${pid}"
 		rm -f "${pidpath}/${config}.pid"
 		startmsg "done"
 	fi