diff --git a/block/src/lib.rs b/block/src/lib.rs
index 6507076a7..f477cd36c 100644
--- a/block/src/lib.rs
+++ b/block/src/lib.rs
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ pub mod vhdx_sync;
 use std::alloc::{Layout, alloc_zeroed, dealloc};
 use std::collections::VecDeque;
 use std::fmt::{self, Debug};
-use std::fs::File;
+use std::fs::{File, OpenOptions};
 use std::io::{self, IoSlice, IoSliceMut, Read, Seek, SeekFrom, Write};
 use std::os::linux::fs::MetadataExt;
 use std::os::unix::io::AsRawFd;
@@ -1065,6 +1065,16 @@ pub fn read_aligned_block_size(f: &mut File) -> std::io::Result<Vec<u8>> {
     Ok(data)
 }
 
+/// Open a disk image file, returning a [`BlockError`] with path context
+/// on failure.
+pub fn open_disk_image(path: &Path, options: &OpenOptions) -> BlockResult<File> {
+    options.open(path).map_err(|e| {
+        BlockError::new(BlockErrorKind::Io, e)
+            .with_op(ErrorOp::Open)
+            .with_path(path)
+    })
+}
+
 /// Determine image type through file parsing.
 pub fn detect_image_type(f: &mut File) -> BlockResult<ImageType> {
     let block = read_aligned_block_size(f)
diff --git a/vmm/src/device_manager.rs b/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
index 325084395..04b9e3b44 100644
--- a/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
+++ b/vmm/src/device_manager.rs
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ use block::raw_sync::RawFileDiskSync;
 use block::vhdx_sync::VhdxDiskSync;
 use block::{
     ImageType, block_aio_is_supported, block_io_uring_is_supported, detect_image_type,
-    preallocate_disk, vhdx,
+    open_disk_image, preallocate_disk, vhdx,
 };
 #[cfg(feature = "io_uring")]
 use block::{fixed_vhd_async::FixedVhdDiskAsync, raw_async::RawFileDisk};
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ pub enum DeviceManagerError {
 
     /// Cannot open disk path
     #[error("Cannot open disk path")]
-    Disk(#[source] io::Error),
+    Disk(#[source] BlockError),
 
     /// Cannot create vhost-user-net device
     #[error("Cannot create vhost-user-net device")]
@@ -2663,15 +2663,12 @@ impl DeviceManager {
                 options.custom_flags(libc::O_DIRECT);
             }
             // Open block device path
-            let mut file: File = options
-                .open(
-                    disk_cfg
-                        .path
-                        .as_ref()
-                        .ok_or(DeviceManagerError::NoDiskPath)?
-                        .clone(),
-                )
-                .map_err(DeviceManagerError::Disk)?;
+            let disk_path = disk_cfg
+                .path
+                .as_ref()
+                .ok_or(DeviceManagerError::NoDiskPath)?;
+            let mut file: File =
+                open_disk_image(disk_path, &options).map_err(DeviceManagerError::Disk)?;
 
             let detected_image_type =
                 detect_image_type(&mut file).map_err(DeviceManagerError::DetectImageType)?;