diff --git a/fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c b/fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c
index f41fc71f1ba7..ac730eab382b 100644
--- a/fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c
+++ b/fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c
@@ -4013,6 +4013,11 @@ static long smb3_insert_range(struct file *file, struct cifs_tcon *tcon,
 
 	count = old_eof - off;
 
+	/* SET_ZERO_DATA creates a hole only in a sparse file. */
+	rc = smb2_set_sparse(xid, tcon, cfile, inode, true);
+	if (rc)
+		goto out;
+
 	filemap_invalidate_lock(inode->i_mapping);
 	rc = filemap_write_and_wait_range(inode->i_mapping, off, new_eof - 1);
 	if (rc < 0)