diff --git a/common/libimage/errno_unix.go b/common/libimage/errno_unix.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6e0d39e6f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/libimage/errno_unix.go
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+//go:build !windows
+
+package libimage
+
+import "syscall"
+
+const ErrNoSpace = syscall.ENOSPC
diff --git a/common/libimage/errno_windows.go b/common/libimage/errno_windows.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f1c6d17f0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/libimage/errno_windows.go
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+package libimage 
+
+import "syscall"
+
+const ErrNoSpace = syscall.ERROR_DISK_FULL
diff --git a/common/libimage/load.go b/common/libimage/load.go
index 598bf39cdc..9739d9cc85 100644
--- a/common/libimage/load.go
+++ b/common/libimage/load.go
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ func (r *Runtime) Load(ctx context.Context, path string, options *LoadOptions) (
 			return loadedImages, err
 		}
 		logrus.Debugf("Error loading %s (%s): %v", path, transportName, err)
+
+		if errors.Is(err, ErrNoSpace) {
+			// %.0w makes err visible to error.Unwrap() without including any text
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("no space left on device%.0w", err)
+		}
+
 		loadErrors = append(loadErrors, fmt.Errorf("%s: %v", transportName, err))
 	}
 
diff --git a/storage/pkg/chrootarchive/archive_unix.go b/storage/pkg/chrootarchive/archive_unix.go
index bc649bbbe6..ba511f88f0 100644
--- a/storage/pkg/chrootarchive/archive_unix.go
+++ b/storage/pkg/chrootarchive/archive_unix.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"io/fs"
 	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ func (dst *unpackDestination) Close() error {
 	return dst.root.Close()
 }
 
+const statusCodeENOSPC = 2
 // tarOptionsDescriptor is passed as an extra file
 const tarOptionsDescriptor = 3
 
@@ -82,6 +84,9 @@ func untar() {
 	}
 
 	if err := archive.Unpack(os.Stdin, dst, &options); err != nil {
+		if errors.Is(err, unix.ENOSPC) {
+			os.Exit(statusCodeENOSPC)
+		}
 		fatal(err)
 	}
 	// fully consume stdin in case it is zero padded
@@ -155,6 +160,14 @@ func invokeUnpack(decompressedArchive io.Reader, dest *unpackDestination, option
 	w.Close()
 
 	if err := cmd.Wait(); err != nil {
+		var exitErr *exec.ExitError
+		if errors.As(err, exitErr) {
+			status := exitErr.ExitCode()
+			if status == statusCodeENOSPC {
+				return unix.ENOSPC
+			}
+		}
+
 		errorOut := fmt.Errorf("unpacking failed (error: %w; output: %s)", err, output)
 		// when `xz -d -c -q | storage-untar ...` failed on storage-untar side,
 		// we need to exhaust `xz`'s output, otherwise the `xz` side will be