diff --git a/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/device.rs b/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/device.rs
index b1e62ff2..4f548a9a 100644
--- a/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/device.rs
+++ b/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/device.rs
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ impl Fs {
             device_state: DeviceState::Inactive,
             config,
             shm_region: None,
-            server: Server::new(PassthroughFs::new(fs_cfg).unwrap()),
+            server: Server::new(PassthroughFs::new(fs_cfg).map_err(FsError::RootDirNotAccessible)?),
             intc: None,
             irq_line: None,
         })
diff --git a/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/linux/passthrough.rs b/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/linux/passthrough.rs
index f9711f90..24bf7a14 100644
--- a/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/linux/passthrough.rs
+++ b/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/linux/passthrough.rs
@@ -301,6 +301,47 @@ pub struct PassthroughFs {
 
 impl PassthroughFs {
     pub fn new(cfg: Config) -> io::Result<PassthroughFs> {
+        // Initialze inodes with root directory already open
+        let inodes = {
+            let mut inodes = MultikeyBTreeMap::new();
+
+            let root = CString::new(cfg.root_dir.as_str()).expect("CString::new failed");
+
+            // Safe because this doesn't modify any memory and we check the return value.
+            // We use `O_PATH` because we just want this for traversing the directory tree
+            // and not for actually reading the contents.
+            let fd = unsafe {
+                libc::openat(
+                    libc::AT_FDCWD,
+                    root.as_ptr(),
+                    libc::O_PATH | libc::O_NOFOLLOW | libc::O_CLOEXEC,
+                )
+            };
+            if fd < 0 {
+                return Err(io::Error::last_os_error());
+            }
+
+            // Safe because we just opened this fd above.
+            let f = unsafe { File::from_raw_fd(fd) };
+
+            let st = stat(&f)?;
+
+            // Not sure why the root inode gets a refcount of 2 but that's what libfuse does.
+            inodes.insert(
+                fuse::ROOT_ID,
+                InodeAltKey {
+                    ino: st.st_ino,
+                    dev: st.st_dev,
+                },
+                Arc::new(InodeData {
+                    inode: fuse::ROOT_ID,
+                    file: f,
+                    refcount: AtomicU64::new(2),
+                }),
+            );
+            inodes
+        };
+
         let fd = if let Some(fd) = cfg.proc_sfd_rawfd {
             fd
         } else {
@@ -326,7 +367,7 @@ impl PassthroughFs {
         let proc_self_fd = unsafe { File::from_raw_fd(fd) };
 
         Ok(PassthroughFs {
-            inodes: RwLock::new(MultikeyBTreeMap::new()),
+            inodes: RwLock::new(inodes),
             next_inode: AtomicU64::new(fuse::ROOT_ID + 2),
             init_inode: fuse::ROOT_ID + 1,
 
@@ -683,48 +724,11 @@ impl FileSystem for PassthroughFs {
     type Handle = Handle;
 
     fn init(&self, capable: FsOptions) -> io::Result<FsOptions> {
-        let root = CString::new(self.cfg.root_dir.as_str()).expect("CString::new failed");
-
-        // Safe because this doesn't modify any memory and we check the return value.
-        // We use `O_PATH` because we just want this for traversing the directory tree
-        // and not for actually reading the contents.
-        let fd = unsafe {
-            libc::openat(
-                libc::AT_FDCWD,
-                root.as_ptr(),
-                libc::O_PATH | libc::O_NOFOLLOW | libc::O_CLOEXEC,
-            )
-        };
-        if fd < 0 {
-            return Err(io::Error::last_os_error());
-        }
-
-        // Safe because we just opened this fd above.
-        let f = unsafe { File::from_raw_fd(fd) };
-
-        let st = stat(&f)?;
-
         // Safe because this doesn't modify any memory and there is no need to check the return
         // value because this system call always succeeds. We need to clear the umask here because
         // we want the client to be able to set all the bits in the mode.
         unsafe { libc::umask(0o000) };
 
-        let mut inodes = self.inodes.write().unwrap();
-
-        // Not sure why the root inode gets a refcount of 2 but that's what libfuse does.
-        inodes.insert(
-            fuse::ROOT_ID,
-            InodeAltKey {
-                ino: st.st_ino,
-                dev: st.st_dev,
-            },
-            Arc::new(InodeData {
-                inode: fuse::ROOT_ID,
-                file: f,
-                refcount: AtomicU64::new(2),
-            }),
-        );
-
         let mut opts = FsOptions::DO_READDIRPLUS | FsOptions::READDIRPLUS_AUTO;
         if self.cfg.writeback && capable.contains(FsOptions::WRITEBACK_CACHE) {
             opts |= FsOptions::WRITEBACK_CACHE;
diff --git a/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/mod.rs b/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/mod.rs
index 7e307303..e6f1d58e 100644
--- a/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/mod.rs
+++ b/src/devices/src/virtio/fs/mod.rs
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ pub enum FsError {
     InvalidXattrSize((u32, usize)),
     QueueReader(DescriptorError),
     QueueWriter(DescriptorError),
+    /// The root filesystem directory is not accessible (it does not exist, permission error...)
+    RootDirNotAccessible(io::Error)
 }
 
 type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, FsError>;
diff --git a/src/libkrun/src/lib.rs b/src/libkrun/src/lib.rs
index cd814588..ebf1a0c0 100644
--- a/src/libkrun/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/libkrun/src/lib.rs
@@ -763,6 +763,7 @@ pub extern "C" fn krun_start_enter(ctx_id: u32) -> i32 {
         }
     };
 
+
     let mut ctx_cfg = match CTX_MAP.lock().unwrap().remove(&ctx_id) {
         Some(ctx_cfg) => ctx_cfg,
         None => return -libc::ENOENT,
@@ -770,8 +771,8 @@ pub extern "C" fn krun_start_enter(ctx_id: u32) -> i32 {
 
     #[cfg(not(feature = "tee"))]
     if let Some(fs_cfg) = ctx_cfg.get_fs_cfg() {
-        if ctx_cfg.vmr.set_fs_device(fs_cfg).is_err() {
-            error!("Error configuring virtio-fs");
+        if let Err(e) = ctx_cfg.vmr.set_fs_device(fs_cfg) {
+            error!("Error configuring virtio-fs {e:?}");
             return -libc::EINVAL;
         }
     }