diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index 3e1e90a3..0584ef2e 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ nova_developer_constraints:
 nova_venv_tag: untagged
 nova_bin: "/openstack/venvs/nova-{{ nova_venv_tag }}/bin"
 
+# venv_download, even when true, will use the fallback method of building the
+# venv from scratch if the venv download fails.
+nova_venv_download: "{{ not nova_developer_mode | bool }}"
 nova_venv_download_url: http://127.0.0.1/venvs/untagged/ubuntu/nova.tgz
 
 nova_fatal_deprecations: False
diff --git a/tasks/nova_compute_kvm_install.yml b/tasks/nova_compute_kvm_install.yml
index 6eb9f7c9..996df0d5 100644
--- a/tasks/nova_compute_kvm_install.yml
+++ b/tasks/nova_compute_kvm_install.yml
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@
   retries: 5
   delay: 2
   when:
-    - nova_get_venv | failed or nova_developer_mode | bool
+    - not nova_get_venv | success or nova_developer_mode | bool
   tags:
     - nova-install
     - nova-pip-packages
diff --git a/tasks/nova_console_novnc_install.yml b/tasks/nova_console_novnc_install.yml
index 0b216bfe..7949107e 100644
--- a/tasks/nova_console_novnc_install.yml
+++ b/tasks/nova_console_novnc_install.yml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
   retries: 5
   delay: 2
   when:
-    - nova_get_venv | failed or nova_developer_mode | bool
+    - not nova_get_venv | success or nova_developer_mode | bool
   tags:
     - nova-install
     - nova-pip-packages
diff --git a/tasks/nova_install.yml b/tasks/nova_install.yml
index e7031f05..881eecaf 100644
--- a/tasks/nova_install.yml
+++ b/tasks/nova_install.yml
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@
     dest: "/var/cache/{{ nova_venv_download_url | basename }}"
     checksum: "sha1:{{ lookup('url', nova_venv_download_url | replace('tgz', 'checksum')) }}"
   register: nova_get_venv
-  when: not nova_developer_mode | bool
+  when: nova_venv_download | bool
   tags:
     - nova-install
     - nova-pip-packages
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@
     copy: "no"
   when:
     - not nova_developer_mode | bool
-    - nova_get_venv | changed or nova_venv_dir | changed
+    - nova_get_venv | changed
   notify: Restart nova services
   tags:
     - nova-install
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@
   until: install_packages|success
   retries: 5
   delay: 2
-  when: nova_developer_mode | bool
+  when: not nova_get_venv | success or nova_developer_mode | bool
   notify: Restart nova services
   tags:
     - nova-install