diff --git a/block/file-posix.c b/block/file-posix.c
index 71f168ee2f..87c5a4ccbd 100644
--- a/block/file-posix.c
+++ b/block/file-posix.c
@@ -1588,6 +1588,13 @@ static int handle_aiocb_write_zeroes(void *opaque)
     if (s->has_write_zeroes) {
         int ret = do_fallocate(s->fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE,
                                aiocb->aio_offset, aiocb->aio_nbytes);
+        if (ret == -EINVAL) {
+            /*
+             * Allow falling back to pwrite for file systems that
+             * do not support fallocate() for an unaligned byte range.
+             */
+            return -ENOTSUP;
+        }
         if (ret == 0 || ret != -ENOTSUP) {
             return ret;
         }
diff --git a/block/io.c b/block/io.c
index 0fa10831ed..16a598fd08 100644
--- a/block/io.c
+++ b/block/io.c
@@ -1746,7 +1746,7 @@ static int coroutine_fn bdrv_co_do_pwrite_zeroes(BlockDriverState *bs,
             assert(!bs->supported_zero_flags);
         }
 
-        if (ret < 0 && !(flags & BDRV_REQ_NO_FALLBACK)) {
+        if (ret == -ENOTSUP && !(flags & BDRV_REQ_NO_FALLBACK)) {
             /* Fall back to bounce buffer if write zeroes is unsupported */
             BdrvRequestFlags write_flags = flags & ~BDRV_REQ_ZERO_WRITE;