diff --git a/src/locking/lock_driver_sanlock.c b/src/locking/lock_driver_sanlock.c
index 9fc97db1d82e8804c8a888b03fb173c2368162b7..60f305c43bbba94834f430aa6365f884d50b99a1 100644
--- a/src/locking/lock_driver_sanlock.c
+++ b/src/locking/lock_driver_sanlock.c
@@ -281,7 +281,7 @@ static int virLockManagerSanlockSetupLockspace(void)
             /*
              * Pre allocate enough data for 1 block of leases at preferred alignment
              */
-            if (safezero(fd, 0, rv, false) < 0) {
+            if (safezero(fd, 0, rv) < 0) {
                 virReportSystemError(errno,
                                      _("Unable to allocate lockspace %s"),
                                      path);
@@ -690,7 +690,7 @@ static int virLockManagerSanlockCreateLease(struct sanlk_resource *res)
             /*
              * Pre allocate enough data for 1 block of leases at preferred alignment
              */
-            if (safezero(fd, 0, rv, false) < 0) {
+            if (safezero(fd, 0, rv) < 0) {
                 virReportSystemError(errno,
                                      _("Unable to allocate lease %s"),
                                      res->disks[0].path);
diff --git a/src/storage/storage_backend.c b/src/storage/storage_backend.c
index 472cec6b3dde6d5a5cbb3de6e7cbe78689a0bc8a..b990a82957dbf32e87afe00d0cb5117d0b3084e6 100644
--- a/src/storage/storage_backend.c
+++ b/src/storage/storage_backend.c
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ createRawFile(int fd, virStorageVolDefPtr vol,
     }
 
     if (remain && need_alloc) {
-        if (safezero(fd, vol->target.allocation - remain, remain, false) < 0) {
+        if (safezero(fd, vol->target.allocation - remain, remain) < 0) {
             ret = -errno;
             virReportSystemError(errno, _("cannot fill file '%s'"),
                                  vol->target.path);
diff --git a/src/util/virfile.c b/src/util/virfile.c
index a2bf008570f9a2a6a94f9e5aca5f8578f418da04..5f56005ea1c57a79618fa4ad8239332c2f34a869 100644
--- a/src/util/virfile.c
+++ b/src/util/virfile.c
@@ -1053,7 +1053,7 @@ safezero_posix_fallocate(int fd ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                          off_t offset ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                          off_t len ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
-    return -1;
+    return -2;
 }
 #endif /* !HAVE_POSIX_FALLOCATE */
 
@@ -1063,9 +1063,7 @@ safezero_sys_fallocate(int fd,
                        off_t offset,
                        off_t len)
 {
-    int rc = -1;
-    rc = syscall(SYS_fallocate, fd, 0, offset, len);
-    return rc;
+    return syscall(SYS_fallocate, fd, 0, offset, len);
 }
 #else /* !HAVE_SYS_SYSCALL_H || !defined(SYS_fallocate) */
 static int
@@ -1073,9 +1071,7 @@ safezero_sys_fallocate(int fd ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                        off_t offset ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
                        off_t len ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
-    int rc = -1;
-    errno = ENOSYS;
-    return rc;
+    return -2;
 }
 #endif /* !HAVE_SYS_SYSCALL_H || !defined(SYS_fallocate) */
 
@@ -1111,7 +1107,7 @@ safezero_mmap(int fd, off_t offset, off_t len)
 
     /* fall back to writing zeroes using safewrite if mmap fails (for
      * example because of virtual memory limits) */
-    return -1;
+    return -2;
 }
 #else /* !HAVE_MMAP */
 static int
@@ -1119,7 +1115,7 @@ safezero_mmap(int fd ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
               off_t offset ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED,
               off_t len ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED)
 {
-    return -1;
+    return -2;
 }
 #endif /* !HAVE_MMAP */
 
@@ -1160,26 +1156,20 @@ safezero_slow(int fd, off_t offset, off_t len)
     return 0;
 }
 
-int safezero(int fd, off_t offset, off_t len, bool resize)
+int safezero(int fd, off_t offset, off_t len)
 {
     int ret;
 
-    /* posix_fallocate returns 0 on success or error number on failure,
-     * but errno is not set so use that to our advantage since we set
-     * errno to the returned value if we make the call. If we don't make
-     * the call because it doesn't exist, then errno won't change and
-     * we can try other methods.
-     */
-    errno = 0;
     ret = safezero_posix_fallocate(fd, offset, len);
-    if (ret == 0 || errno != 0)
+    if (ret != -2)
         return ret;
 
-    if (resize)
-        return safezero_sys_fallocate(fd, offset, len);
-
-    if (safezero_mmap(fd, offset, len) == 0)
+    if (safezero_sys_fallocate(fd, offset, len) == 0)
         return 0;
+
+    ret = safezero_mmap(fd, offset, len);
+    if (ret != -2)
+        return ret;
     return safezero_slow(fd, offset, len);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/util/virfile.h b/src/util/virfile.h
index b8e30c3abb5a477c6bc30c18fa36678e9c3726d7..403d0ba7c329a0215f60acdf79824bf0adb8b37f 100644
--- a/src/util/virfile.h
+++ b/src/util/virfile.h
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ typedef enum {
 ssize_t saferead(int fd, void *buf, size_t count) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 ssize_t safewrite(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count)
     ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
-int safezero(int fd, off_t offset, off_t len, bool resize)
+int safezero(int fd, off_t offset, off_t len)
     ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
 
 /* Don't call these directly - use the macros below */
diff --git a/src/util/virstoragefile.c b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
index 2be6c34e8784794cadaee87d1b63c1f4590d091f..7a4f9a0b3915c91ce1089d2720e33f8a838e7ae8 100644
--- a/src/util/virstoragefile.c
+++ b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
@@ -1117,15 +1117,10 @@ virStorageFileResize(const char *path,
     }
 
     if (pre_allocate) {
-        if (safezero(fd, offset, len, true) != 0) {
-            if (errno == ENOSYS)
-                virReportError(VIR_ERR_OPERATION_UNSUPPORTED, "%s",
-                               _("preallocate is not supported on this "
-                                 "platform"));
-            else
-                virReportSystemError(errno,
-                                     _("Failed to pre-allocate space for "
-                                       "file '%s'"), path);
+        if (safezero(fd, offset, len) != 0) {
+            virReportSystemError(errno,
+                                 _("Failed to pre-allocate space for "
+                                   "file '%s'"), path);
             goto cleanup;
         }
     } else {