diff --git a/internal/daemon/create.go b/internal/daemon/create.go
index 297dcee..0bb914d 100644
--- a/internal/daemon/create.go
+++ b/internal/daemon/create.go
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ func (d *Daemon) CreateMachine(ctx context.Context, req contracthost.CreateMachi
 	if err := cloneDiskFile(artifact.RootFSPath, systemVolumePath, d.config.DiskCloneMode); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("clone rootfs for %q: %w", req.MachineID, err)
 	}
+	if err := os.Truncate(systemVolumePath, defaultGuestDiskSizeBytes); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("expand system volume for %q: %w", req.MachineID, err)
+	}
 	removeSystemVolumeOnFailure := true
 	defer func() {
 		if !removeSystemVolumeOnFailure {
diff --git a/internal/daemon/daemon.go b/internal/daemon/daemon.go
index bcd8192..f926f0f 100644
--- a/internal/daemon/daemon.go
+++ b/internal/daemon/daemon.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ const (
 	defaultGuestKernelArgsNoPCI = defaultGuestKernelArgs + " pci=off"
 	defaultGuestMemoryMiB       = int64(3072)
 	defaultGuestVCPUs           = int64(2)
+	defaultGuestDiskSizeBytes   = int64(10 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024) // 10 GB
 	defaultSSHPort              = uint16(2222)
 	defaultVNCPort              = uint16(6080)
 	defaultCopyBufferSize       = 1024 * 1024