diff --git a/block_util/src/qcow_sync.rs b/block_util/src/qcow_sync.rs
index 1590f3754..1c5229ed7 100644
--- a/block_util/src/qcow_sync.rs
+++ b/block_util/src/qcow_sync.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 use crate::async_io::{AsyncIo, AsyncIoResult, DiskFile, DiskFileResult};
 use crate::{disk_size, fsync_sync, read_vectored_sync, write_vectored_sync};
-use qcow::{QcowFile, RawFile};
+use qcow::{QcowFile, RawFile, Result as QcowResult};
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::sync::{Arc, Mutex};
 use vmm_sys_util::eventfd::EventFd;
@@ -15,12 +15,11 @@ pub struct QcowDiskSync {
 }
 
 impl QcowDiskSync {
-    pub fn new(file: File, direct_io: bool) -> Self {
-        QcowDiskSync {
-            qcow_file: QcowFile::from(RawFile::new(file, direct_io))
-                .expect("Failed creating QcowFile"),
+    pub fn new(file: File, direct_io: bool) -> QcowResult<Self> {
+        Ok(QcowDiskSync {
+            qcow_file: QcowFile::from(RawFile::new(file, direct_io))?,
             semaphore: Arc::new(Mutex::new(())),
-        }
+        })
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/vmm/src/device_manager.rs b/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
index a07dbd79f..9c9fc8a6a 100644
--- a/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
@@ -417,6 +417,9 @@ pub enum DeviceManagerError {
     /// Failed to create FixedVhdDiskSync
     CreateFixedVhdDiskSync(io::Error),
 
+    /// Failed to create QcowDiskSync
+    CreateQcowDiskSync(qcow::Error),
+
     /// Failed adding DMA mapping handler to virtio-mem device.
     AddDmaMappingHandlerVirtioMem(virtio_devices::mem::Error),
 
@@ -1936,7 +1939,10 @@ impl DeviceManager {
                 }
                 ImageType::Qcow2 => {
                     info!("Using synchronous QCOW disk file");
-                    Box::new(QcowDiskSync::new(file, disk_cfg.direct)) as Box<dyn DiskFile>
+                    Box::new(
+                        QcowDiskSync::new(file, disk_cfg.direct)
+                            .map_err(DeviceManagerError::CreateQcowDiskSync)?,
+                    ) as Box<dyn DiskFile>
                 }
             };