diff --git a/block/file-posix.c b/block/file-posix.c
index 10b71d9a13..6e24083f3f 100644
--- a/block/file-posix.c
+++ b/block/file-posix.c
@@ -1650,6 +1650,17 @@ static int handle_aiocb_write_zeroes(void *opaque)
                 return ret;
             }
             s->has_fallocate = false;
+        } else if (ret == -EINVAL) {
+            /*
+             * Some file systems like older versions of GPFS do not like un-
+             * aligned byte ranges, and return EINVAL in such a case, though
+             * they should not do it according to the man-page of fallocate().
+             * Warn about the bad filesystem and try the final fallback instead.
+             */
+            warn_report_once("Your file system is misbehaving: "
+                             "fallocate(FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE) returned EINVAL. "
+                             "Please report this bug to your file sytem "
+                             "vendor.");
         } else if (ret != -ENOTSUP) {
             return ret;
         } else {