diff --git a/pve/vm-core.func b/pve/vm-core.func
index ad4dfec..741cca0 100644
--- a/pve/vm-core.func
+++ b/pve/vm-core.func
@@ -2641,7 +2641,16 @@ vm_import_disk() {
   before="$(qm config "$vmid" 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^unused[0-9]*: //p')" || before=""
 
   msg_info "Importing $(basename "$file") to ${storage}"
-  if ! out="$("${cmd[@]}" "$vmid" "$file" "$storage" "${opts[@]}" 2>&1)"; then
+  # A freshly extracted image still has writes pending; on ZFS the volume create
+  # then waited behind them and failed with "got timeout".
+  sync -f "$file" 2>/dev/null || sync
+  local attempt rc
+  for attempt in 1 2 3; do
+    out="$("${cmd[@]}" "$vmid" "$file" "$storage" "${opts[@]}" 2>&1)" && rc=0 || rc=$?
+    [[ $rc -ne 0 && "$out" == *"got timeout"* && $attempt -lt 3 ]] || break
+    sleep $((attempt * 10))
+  done
+  if [[ $rc -ne 0 ]]; then
     msg_error "Importing $(basename "$file") into VM ${vmid} failed"
     # Into the log too: the failure trace is read from there.
     printf '%s\n' "$out" | tail -n 5 | tee -a "$(get_active_logfile)" >&2 || true
diff --git a/tests/vm-helpers.sh b/tests/vm-helpers.sh
index d2cba66..b0edf47 100644
--- a/tests/vm-helpers.sh
+++ b/tests/vm-helpers.sh
@@ -208,11 +208,17 @@ QM_CONFIG_BEFORE=""
 QM_CONFIG_AFTER=""
 # A file, not a variable: the import runs inside a command substitution.
 QM_IMPORTED_FLAG="$TEST_DIR/qm-imported"
+QM_TIMEOUTS_FILE="$TEST_DIR/qm-timeouts"
 qm() {
   printf 'qm %s\n' "$*" >>"$LOG"
   case "$1 ${2:-}" in
   "disk import")
     if [[ "${3:-}" == --help ]]; then [[ "$QM_MODERN" == yes ]]; return; fi
+    if [[ -s "$QM_TIMEOUTS_FILE" && "$(cat "$QM_TIMEOUTS_FILE")" -gt 0 ]]; then
+      echo $(($(cat "$QM_TIMEOUTS_FILE") - 1)) >"$QM_TIMEOUTS_FILE"
+      echo "command 'zfs create -s -V 33554432k rpool/data/vm-100-disk-0' failed: got timeout"
+      return 255
+    fi
     : >"$QM_IMPORTED_FLAG"
     printf '%s\n' "$QM_IMPORT_OUT"
     return "$QM_IMPORT_RC"
@@ -256,6 +262,19 @@ assert_eq "$VM_IMPORTED_DISK" "local-lvm:vm-100-disk-1" "volume from qm's report
 assert_contains "$LOG" "qm disk import 100 $IMAGE local-lvm --format raw"
 ok "vm_import_disk uses qm disk import and the reported volume"
 
+import_case
+echo 1 >"$QM_TIMEOUTS_FILE"
+vm_import_disk 100 "$IMAGE" local-lvm || fail "import after a zfs timeout"
+assert_eq "$(grep -c 'qm disk import 100' "$LOG")" 2 "one timeout, one retry"
+ok "vm_import_disk retries after a ZFS got timeout"
+
+import_case
+echo 9 >"$QM_TIMEOUTS_FILE"
+vm_import_disk 100 "$IMAGE" local-lvm 2>/dev/null && fail "three timeouts still fail"
+assert_eq "$(grep -c 'qm disk import 100' "$LOG")" 3 "gives up after three attempts"
+: >"$QM_TIMEOUTS_FILE"
+ok "vm_import_disk gives up after three timeouts"
+
 import_case
 QM_MODERN=no
 vm_import_disk 100 "$IMAGE" local-lvm qcow2 || fail "legacy import"