diff --git a/api/openapi-spec/swagger.json b/api/openapi-spec/swagger.json
index 9ddf84f7319..8487a56c307 100644
--- a/api/openapi-spec/swagger.json
+++ b/api/openapi-spec/swagger.json
@@ -9611,6 +9611,10 @@
           },
           "storageClassName": {
             "type": "string"
+          },
+          "virtualSize": {
+            "type": "integer",
+            "format": "int64"
           }
         }
       },
diff --git a/deploy/charts/harvester-crd/templates/harvesterhci.io_virtualmachineimages.yaml b/deploy/charts/harvester-crd/templates/harvesterhci.io_virtualmachineimages.yaml
index 75856097eb0..29ffd49faf9 100644
--- a/deploy/charts/harvester-crd/templates/harvesterhci.io_virtualmachineimages.yaml
+++ b/deploy/charts/harvester-crd/templates/harvesterhci.io_virtualmachineimages.yaml
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ spec:
     - jsonPath: .status.size
       name: SIZE
       type: integer
+    - jsonPath: .status.virtualSize
+      name: VIRTUALSIZE
+      type: integer
     - jsonPath: .metadata.creationTimestamp
       name: AGE
       type: date
@@ -123,6 +126,9 @@ spec:
                 type: integer
               storageClassName:
                 type: string
+              virtualSize:
+                format: int64
+                type: integer
             type: object
         required:
         - spec
diff --git a/pkg/apis/harvesterhci.io/v1beta1/image.go b/pkg/apis/harvesterhci.io/v1beta1/image.go
index 708708c8345..097132b61ca 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/harvesterhci.io/v1beta1/image.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/harvesterhci.io/v1beta1/image.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ var (
 // +kubebuilder:resource:shortName=vmimage;vmimages,scope=Namespaced
 // +kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="DISPLAY-NAME",type=string,JSONPath=`.spec.displayName`
 // +kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="SIZE",type=integer,JSONPath=`.status.size`
+// +kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="VIRTUALSIZE",type=integer,JSONPath=`.status.virtualSize`
 // +kubebuilder:printcolumn:name="AGE",type="date",JSONPath=`.metadata.creationTimestamp`
 
 type VirtualMachineImage struct {
@@ -80,6 +81,9 @@ type VirtualMachineImageStatus struct {
 	// +optional
 	Size int64 `json:"size,omitempty"`
 
+	// +optional
+	VirtualSize int64 `json:"virtualSize,omitempty"`
+
 	// +optional
 	StorageClassName string `json:"storageClassName,omitempty"`
 
diff --git a/pkg/apis/harvesterhci.io/v1beta1/openapi_generated.go b/pkg/apis/harvesterhci.io/v1beta1/openapi_generated.go
index 90cb0e9b629..e1dc2c5c5cc 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/harvesterhci.io/v1beta1/openapi_generated.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/harvesterhci.io/v1beta1/openapi_generated.go
@@ -3967,6 +3967,12 @@ func schema_pkg_apis_harvesterhciio_v1beta1_VirtualMachineImageStatus(ref common
 							Format: "int64",
 						},
 					},
+					"virtualSize": {
+						SchemaProps: spec.SchemaProps{
+							Type:   []string{"integer"},
+							Format: "int64",
+						},
+					},
 					"storageClassName": {
 						SchemaProps: spec.SchemaProps{
 							Type:   []string{"string"},
diff --git a/pkg/controller/master/image/backing_image_controller.go b/pkg/controller/master/image/backing_image_controller.go
index 9e851c454c9..36b22fd8a81 100644
--- a/pkg/controller/master/image/backing_image_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/controller/master/image/backing_image_controller.go
@@ -37,7 +37,26 @@ func (h *backingImageHandler) OnChanged(_ string, backingImage *lhv1beta2.Backin
 	} else if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	if !harvesterv1beta1.ImageInitialized.IsTrue(vmImage) || !harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.IsUnknown(vmImage) {
+	// There are two states that we care about here:
+	// - ImageInitialized
+	// - ImageImported
+	// If ImageInitialized isn't yet true, it means there's no backing
+	// image or storage class, so we've got nothing to work with yet and
+	// should return immediately.
+	if !harvesterv1beta1.ImageInitialized.IsTrue(vmImage) {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	// If ImageImported is not unknown, it means the backing image has
+	// been imported, and we think we know everything about it, i.e. we've
+	// now been through a series of progress updates during image download,
+	// and those are finally done, so let's not worry about further updates.
+	// The problem with this logic is that when we add new fields (e.g.
+	// VirtualSize), existing images won't pick up those newly added fields
+	// if we return here immediately.  So, now there's an additional check
+	// for that new field.  Another, simpler, alternative would be to just
+	// drop the ImageImported.IsUnknown check entirely, and let the following
+	// loop run through on every OnChanged event.
+	if !harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.IsUnknown(vmImage) && vmImage.Status.VirtualSize == backingImage.Status.VirtualSize {
 		return nil, nil
 	}
 	toUpdate := vmImage.DeepCopy()
@@ -46,11 +65,16 @@ func (h *backingImageHandler) OnChanged(_ string, backingImage *lhv1beta2.Backin
 			toUpdate = handleFail(toUpdate, condition.Cond(harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported), fmt.Errorf(status.Message))
 			toUpdate.Status.Progress = status.Progress
 		} else if status.State == lhv1beta2.BackingImageStateReady || status.State == lhv1beta2.BackingImageStateReadyForTransfer {
-			harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.True(toUpdate)
-			harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.Reason(toUpdate, "Imported")
-			harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.Message(toUpdate, status.Message)
 			toUpdate.Status.Progress = status.Progress
 			toUpdate.Status.Size = backingImage.Status.Size
+			toUpdate.Status.VirtualSize = backingImage.Status.VirtualSize
+			if toUpdate.Status.VirtualSize > 0 {
+				// We can't set ImageImported to True until we know the VirtualSize,
+				// which may happen one update after the image becomes ready.
+				harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.True(toUpdate)
+				harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.Reason(toUpdate, "Imported")
+				harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.Message(toUpdate, status.Message)
+			}
 		} else if status.Progress != toUpdate.Status.Progress {
 			harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.Unknown(toUpdate)
 			harvesterv1beta1.ImageImported.Reason(toUpdate, "Importing")