Container images and related state is stored in /var/db/containers. It is recommended to use ZFS for this: # zfs create -o mountpoint=/var/db/containers zroot/containers If your system cannot use ZFS, change storage.conf to use the vfs storage driver: # sed -I .bak -e 's/driver = "zfs"/driver = "vfs"/' /usr/local/etc/containers/storage.conf