diff --git a/ci-operator/config/openshift/hypershift/openshift-hypershift-main.yaml b/ci-operator/config/openshift/hypershift/openshift-hypershift-main.yaml
index 6acf730c43ddb..7cb81f613d56e 100644
--- a/ci-operator/config/openshift/hypershift/openshift-hypershift-main.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/config/openshift/hypershift/openshift-hypershift-main.yaml
@@ -481,6 +481,9 @@ tests:
     leases:
     - env: OPENSTACK_CLOUD
       resource_type: openstack-vexxhost-quota-slice
+    post:
+    - ref: hypershift-openstack-gather
+    - chain: hypershift-destroy-nested-management-cluster
     test:
     - chain: hypershift-openstack-e2e
     workflow: hypershift-aws-e2e-nested
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/e2e/execute/hypershift-openstack-e2e-execute-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/e2e/execute/hypershift-openstack-e2e-execute-commands.sh
index b52029f3cf4d0..52bbeaffaa96b 100755
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/e2e/execute/hypershift-openstack-e2e-execute-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/e2e/execute/hypershift-openstack-e2e-execute-commands.sh
@@ -48,4 +48,4 @@ hack/ci-test-e2e.sh ${E2E_EXTRA_ARGS} \
         --e2e.openstack-credentials-file="${SHARED_DIR}/clouds.yaml" \
         --e2e.openstack-external-network-id="${OPENSTACK_EXTERNAL_NETWORK_ID}" \
         --e2e.openstack-node-flavor="${OPENSTACK_COMPUTE_FLAVOR}" \
-        --e2e.openstack-node-image-name="${RHCOS_IMAGE_NAME}"
+        ${RHCOS_IMAGE_NAME:+--e2e.openstack-node-image-name="${RHCOS_IMAGE_NAME}"}
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/e2e/execute/hypershift-openstack-e2e-execute-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/e2e/execute/hypershift-openstack-e2e-execute-ref.yaml
index a94b175f313a5..7a73b19cd8663 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/e2e/execute/hypershift-openstack-e2e-execute-ref.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/e2e/execute/hypershift-openstack-e2e-execute-ref.yaml
@@ -15,7 +15,15 @@ ref:
     - env: OCP_IMAGE_PREVIOUS
       name: release:initial
   env:
-    - default: "rhcos-latest-hcp-nodepool"
+    - default: ""
+      documentation: |-
+        Name of a pre-existing Glance image to use for OpenStack nodes. On 4.19+
+        this is unused for TestCreateCluster and TestNodePool since ORC manages
+        the image lifecycle directly; it is only consumed by TestOpenStackAdvancedTest
+        (not in the default E2E_TESTS_REGEX). On 4.18 and earlier, DefaultOpenStackOptions
+        still wired this value into the NodePool ImageName field, so the 4.18 job
+        configs override this variable to reference a versioned pre-existing image
+        (e.g. rhcos-4.18-hcp-nodepool).
       name: RHCOS_IMAGE_NAME
     - default: 'TestCreateCluster$|TestNodePool|TestAutoscaling'
       documentation: |-
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/OWNERS b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/OWNERS
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f47a23f53a78f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/OWNERS
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+approvers:
+- openstack-approvers
+reviewers:
+- openstack-reviewers
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-commands.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..b52d9cf772a4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-commands.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [[ -z "${KUBECONFIG:-}" || ! -f "${KUBECONFIG}" ]]; then
+    echo "No kubeconfig found at ${KUBECONFIG:-<unset>}, skipping gather"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+GATHER_DIR="${ARTIFACT_DIR}/capo-gather"
+mkdir -p "${GATHER_DIR}"
+
+echo "Gathering CAPO and ORC resources from management cluster..."
+
+# Namespaces stuck in Terminating — these are the first sign of a stuck deletion.
+echo "=== Namespaces in Terminating state ==="
+oc get namespace --field-selector='status.phase=Terminating' -o yaml 2>/dev/null \
+    > "${GATHER_DIR}/terminating-namespaces.yaml" || true
+oc get namespace --field-selector='status.phase=Terminating' 2>/dev/null || true
+
+# HostedClusters and NodePools for context.
+for resource in hostedclusters nodepools; do
+    echo "=== ${resource} ==="
+    oc get "${resource}" -A -o yaml 2>/dev/null \
+        > "${GATHER_DIR}/${resource}.yaml" || true
+done
+
+# CAPI core resources (Cluster, Machine) to trace the deletion chain.
+for resource in \
+    "clusters.cluster.x-k8s.io" \
+    "machines.cluster.x-k8s.io"; do
+    echo "=== ${resource} ==="
+    name="${resource%%.*}"
+    oc get "${resource}" -A -o yaml 2>/dev/null \
+        > "${GATHER_DIR}/${name}.yaml" || true
+done
+
+# CAPO-specific resources. OpenStackServer carries the CAPO-managed finalizer
+# (openstackserver.infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io) that can get permanently
+# stuck if the CAPO pod is killed before the finalizer is removed.
+for resource in \
+    "openstackclusters.infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io" \
+    "openstackmachines.infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io" \
+    "openstackservers.infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io"; do
+    echo "=== ${resource} ==="
+    name="${resource%%.*}"
+    oc get "${resource}" -A -o yaml 2>/dev/null \
+        > "${GATHER_DIR}/${name}.yaml" || true
+done
+
+# ORC Image resources. These also carry an in-namespace finalizer (managed by
+# the ORC controller) that can block namespace termination.
+echo "=== images.openstack.k-orc.cloud ==="
+oc get images.openstack.k-orc.cloud -A -o yaml 2>/dev/null \
+    > "${GATHER_DIR}/orc-images.yaml" || true
+
+echo "Done gathering CAPO resources"
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-ref.metadata.json b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-ref.metadata.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a145562259304
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-ref.metadata.json
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+{
+	"path": "hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-ref.yaml",
+	"owners": {
+		"approvers": [
+			"openstack-approvers"
+		],
+		"reviewers": [
+			"openstack-reviewers"
+		]
+	}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-ref.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..8305b25ff6a21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/hypershift/openstack/gather/hypershift-openstack-gather-ref.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+ref:
+  as: hypershift-openstack-gather
+  best_effort: true
+  cli: latest
+  commands: hypershift-openstack-gather-commands.sh
+  from: upi-installer
+  optional_on_success: true
+  resources:
+    requests:
+      cpu: 10m
+      memory: 100Mi
+  timeout: 5m0s
+  documentation: |-
+    Gather CAPO (OpenStackServer, OpenStackMachine, OpenStackCluster) and ORC
+    Image resources from the management cluster. Runs after e2e test failures to
+    capture the state of any objects whose finalizers may have blocked namespace
+    termination and caused the test to time out.