diff --git a/src/storage/storage_backend.c b/src/storage/storage_backend.c
index 8d0ea9eee6..a6e66e1c1e 100644
--- a/src/storage/storage_backend.c
+++ b/src/storage/storage_backend.c
@@ -331,7 +331,7 @@ createRawFile(int fd, virStorageVolDefPtr vol,
 
                 if (bytes > remain)
                     bytes = remain;
-                if (safezero(fd, 0, vol->allocation - remain, bytes) != 0) {
+                if (safezero(fd, 0, vol->allocation - remain, bytes) < 0) {
                     ret = -errno;
                     virReportSystemError(errno, _("cannot fill file '%s'"),
                                          vol->target.path);
@@ -340,7 +340,7 @@ createRawFile(int fd, virStorageVolDefPtr vol,
                 remain -= bytes;
             }
         } else { /* No progress bars to be shown */
-            if (safezero(fd, 0, 0, remain) != 0) {
+            if (safezero(fd, 0, 0, remain) < 0) {
                 ret = -errno;
                 virReportSystemError(errno, _("cannot fill file '%s'"),
                                      vol->target.path);
diff --git a/src/util/util.c b/src/util/util.c
index df4dfacfed..8f6d887229 100644
--- a/src/util/util.c
+++ b/src/util/util.c
@@ -136,7 +136,11 @@ safewrite(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count)
 #ifdef HAVE_POSIX_FALLOCATE
 int safezero(int fd, int flags ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED, off_t offset, off_t len)
 {
-    return posix_fallocate(fd, offset, len);
+    int ret = posix_fallocate(fd, offset, len);
+    if (ret == 0)
+        return 0;
+    errno = ret;
+    return -1;
 }
 #else