diff --git a/nova/compute/manager.py b/nova/compute/manager.py
index b2de71ccddf..92097d8ad99 100644
--- a/nova/compute/manager.py
+++ b/nova/compute/manager.py
@@ -9990,13 +9990,6 @@ def _cleanup_running_deleted_instances(self, context):
                              "DELETED but still present on host.",
                              instance.name, instance=instance)
                     try:
-                        try:
-                            # disable starting the instance
-                            self.driver.set_bootable(instance, False)
-                        except NotImplementedError:
-                            LOG.debug("set_bootable is not implemented "
-                                      "for the current driver")
-                        # and power it off
                         self.driver.power_off(instance)
                     except Exception:
                         LOG.warning("Failed to power off instance",
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/compute/test_compute.py b/nova/tests/unit/compute/test_compute.py
index ddd0f5fc06e..cbb0e2f64d3 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/compute/test_compute.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/compute/test_compute.py
@@ -7047,10 +7047,10 @@ def test_cleanup_running_deleted_instances_reap(self, mock_get_uuid,
 
     @mock.patch.object(compute_manager.ComputeManager,
                        '_get_instances_on_driver')
-    @mock.patch.object(fake.FakeDriver, "set_bootable")
     @mock.patch.object(fake.FakeDriver, "power_off")
-    def test_cleanup_running_deleted_instances_shutdown(self, mock_power,
-                                                        mock_set, mock_get):
+    def test_cleanup_running_deleted_instances_shutdown(
+        self, mock_power, mock_get,
+    ):
         ctxt, inst1, inst2 = self._test_cleanup_running('shutdown')
         mock_get.return_value = [inst1, inst2]
 
@@ -7060,34 +7060,13 @@ def test_cleanup_running_deleted_instances_shutdown(self, mock_power,
                                               {'deleted': True,
                                                'soft_deleted': False})
         mock_power.assert_has_calls([mock.call(inst1), mock.call(inst2)])
-        mock_set.assert_has_calls([mock.call(inst1, False),
-                                   mock.call(inst2, False)])
 
     @mock.patch.object(compute_manager.ComputeManager,
                        '_get_instances_on_driver')
-    @mock.patch.object(fake.FakeDriver, "set_bootable")
     @mock.patch.object(fake.FakeDriver, "power_off")
-    def test_cleanup_running_deleted_instances_shutdown_notimpl(self,
-                                            mock_power, mock_set, mock_get):
-        ctxt, inst1, inst2 = self._test_cleanup_running('shutdown')
-        mock_get.return_value = [inst1, inst2]
-        mock_set.side_effect = [NotImplementedError, NotImplementedError]
-
-        self.compute._cleanup_running_deleted_instances(ctxt)
-
-        mock_get.assert_called_once_with(ctxt,
-                                         {'deleted': True,
-                                          'soft_deleted': False})
-        mock_set.assert_has_calls([mock.call(inst1, False),
-                                   mock.call(inst2, False)])
-        mock_power.assert_has_calls([mock.call(inst1), mock.call(inst2)])
-
-    @mock.patch.object(compute_manager.ComputeManager,
-                       '_get_instances_on_driver')
-    @mock.patch.object(fake.FakeDriver, "set_bootable")
-    @mock.patch.object(fake.FakeDriver, "power_off")
-    def test_cleanup_running_deleted_instances_shutdown_error(self, mock_power,
-                                        mock_set, mock_get):
+    def test_cleanup_running_deleted_instances_shutdown_error(
+        self, mock_power, mock_get,
+    ):
         ctxt, inst1, inst2 = self._test_cleanup_running('shutdown')
         e = test.TestingException('bad')
         mock_get.return_value = [inst1, inst2]
@@ -7099,8 +7078,6 @@ def test_cleanup_running_deleted_instances_shutdown_error(self, mock_power,
                                          {'deleted': True,
                                           'soft_deleted': False})
         mock_power.assert_has_calls([mock.call(inst1), mock.call(inst2)])
-        mock_set.assert_has_calls([mock.call(inst1, False),
-                                   mock.call(inst2, False)])
 
     @mock.patch.object(compute_manager.ComputeManager,
                        '_get_instances_on_driver')
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/virt/test_virt_drivers.py b/nova/tests/unit/virt/test_virt_drivers.py
index 051c8652943..ed1ea943e6e 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/virt/test_virt_drivers.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/virt/test_virt_drivers.py
@@ -736,10 +736,6 @@ def test_emit_unicode_event(self):
             self.connection.emit_event(started_event)
         callback.assert_called_once_with(started_event)
 
-    def test_set_bootable(self):
-        self.assertRaises(NotImplementedError, self.connection.set_bootable,
-                          'instance', True)
-
     @catch_notimplementederror
     def test_get_instance_disk_info(self):
         # This should be implemented by any driver that supports live migrate.
diff --git a/nova/virt/driver.py b/nova/virt/driver.py
index 5a1f4d2d4ac..d5243245bbf 100644
--- a/nova/virt/driver.py
+++ b/nova/virt/driver.py
@@ -866,15 +866,6 @@ def rescue(self, context, instance, network_info, image_meta,
         """
         raise NotImplementedError()
 
-    # TODO(stephenfin): This was only implemented (properly) for XenAPI and
-    # should be removed.
-    def set_bootable(self, instance, is_bootable):
-        """Set the ability to power on/off an instance.
-
-        :param instance: nova.objects.instance.Instance
-        """
-        raise NotImplementedError()
-
     def unrescue(
         self,
         context: nova_context.RequestContext,