diff --git a/lxc/action.go b/lxc/action.go
index b96b2d9919db..33961ed2c216 100644
--- a/lxc/action.go
+++ b/lxc/action.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func (c *cmdStart) command() *cobra.Command {
 		`Start instances`))
 
 	cmd.ValidArgsFunction = func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
-		return c.global.cmpInstances(toComplete)
+		return c.global.cmpInstancesAction(toComplete, "start", c.action.flagForce)
 	}
 
 	return cmd
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ func (c *cmdPause) command() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.Aliases = []string{"freeze"}
 
 	cmd.ValidArgsFunction = func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
-		return c.global.cmpInstances(toComplete)
+		return c.global.cmpInstancesAction(toComplete, "pause", c.action.flagForce)
 	}
 
 	return cmd
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ func (c *cmdRestart) command() *cobra.Command {
 The opposite of "lxc pause" is "lxc start".`))
 
 	cmd.ValidArgsFunction = func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
-		return c.global.cmpInstances(toComplete)
+		return c.global.cmpInstancesAction(toComplete, "restart", c.action.flagForce)
 	}
 
 	return cmd
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ func (c *cmdStop) command() *cobra.Command {
 		`Stop instances`))
 
 	cmd.ValidArgsFunction = func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
-		return c.global.cmpInstances(toComplete)
+		return c.global.cmpInstancesAction(toComplete, "stop", c.action.flagForce)
 	}
 
 	return cmd
diff --git a/lxc/completion.go b/lxc/completion.go
index f18da5a99217..49b12ccf4683 100644
--- a/lxc/completion.go
+++ b/lxc/completion.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/canonical/lxd/lxd/instance/instancetype"
 	"github.com/canonical/lxd/shared"
+	"github.com/canonical/lxd/shared/api"
 )
 
 func (g *cmdGlobal) cmpClusterGroupNames(toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
@@ -430,6 +431,66 @@ func (g *cmdGlobal) cmpInstances(toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDi
 	return results, cmpDirectives
 }
 
+func (g *cmdGlobal) cmpInstancesAction(toComplete string, action string, flagForce bool) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
+	var results []string
+	cmpDirectives := cobra.ShellCompDirectiveNoFileComp
+
+	resources, _ := g.ParseServers(toComplete)
+
+	var filteredInstanceStatuses []string
+
+	switch action {
+	case "start":
+		filteredInstanceStatuses = append(filteredInstanceStatuses, "Stopped", "Frozen")
+	case "pause", "exec":
+		filteredInstanceStatuses = append(filteredInstanceStatuses, "Running")
+	case "stop":
+		if flagForce {
+			filteredInstanceStatuses = append(filteredInstanceStatuses, "Running", "Frozen")
+		} else {
+			filteredInstanceStatuses = append(filteredInstanceStatuses, "Running")
+		}
+
+	case "delete":
+		if flagForce {
+			filteredInstanceStatuses = append(filteredInstanceStatuses, api.GetAllStatusCodeStrings()...)
+		} else {
+			filteredInstanceStatuses = append(filteredInstanceStatuses, "Stopped")
+		}
+
+	default:
+		filteredInstanceStatuses = append(filteredInstanceStatuses, api.GetAllStatusCodeStrings()...)
+	}
+
+	if len(resources) > 0 {
+		resource := resources[0]
+
+		instances, _ := resource.server.GetInstances("")
+
+		for _, instance := range instances {
+			var name string
+
+			if shared.ValueInSlice(instance.Status, filteredInstanceStatuses) {
+				if resource.remote == g.conf.DefaultRemote && !strings.Contains(toComplete, g.conf.DefaultRemote) {
+					name = instance.Name
+				} else {
+					name = fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", resource.remote, instance.Name)
+				}
+
+				results = append(results, name)
+			}
+		}
+
+		if !strings.Contains(toComplete, ":") {
+			remotes, directives := g.cmpRemotes(false)
+			results = append(results, remotes...)
+			cmpDirectives |= directives
+		}
+	}
+
+	return results, cmpDirectives
+}
+
 func (g *cmdGlobal) cmpInstancesAndSnapshots(toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
 	results := []string{}
 	cmpDirectives := cobra.ShellCompDirectiveNoFileComp
diff --git a/lxc/delete.go b/lxc/delete.go
index a6d3bbe1808f..3ae4c64a5d62 100644
--- a/lxc/delete.go
+++ b/lxc/delete.go
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func (c *cmdDelete) command() *cobra.Command {
 	cmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&c.flagInteractive, "interactive", "i", false, i18n.G("Require user confirmation"))
 
 	cmd.ValidArgsFunction = func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
-		return c.global.cmpInstances(toComplete)
+		return c.global.cmpInstancesAction(toComplete, "delete", c.flagForce)
 	}
 
 	return cmd
diff --git a/lxc/exec.go b/lxc/exec.go
index 771920177a0a..c2f230ed0be3 100644
--- a/lxc/exec.go
+++ b/lxc/exec.go
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ Mode defaults to non-interactive, interactive mode is selected if both stdin AND
 
 	cmd.ValidArgsFunction = func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string, toComplete string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
 		if len(args) == 0 {
-			return c.global.cmpInstances(toComplete)
+			return c.global.cmpInstancesAction(toComplete, "exec", false)
 		}
 
 		return nil, cobra.ShellCompDirectiveNoFileComp
diff --git a/shared/api/status_code.go b/shared/api/status_code.go
index 1f6bb73b93e9..cc9f83f57607 100644
--- a/shared/api/status_code.go
+++ b/shared/api/status_code.go
@@ -67,3 +67,13 @@ func StatusCodeFromString(status string) StatusCode {
 
 	return -1
 }
+
+// GetAllStatusCodeStrings returns a slice of all status code strings.
+func GetAllStatusCodeStrings() []string {
+	var statusStrings []string
+	for _, code := range StatusCodeNames {
+		statusStrings = append(statusStrings, code)
+	}
+
+	return statusStrings
+}