diff --git a/include/mimalloc.h b/include/mimalloc.h
index 6610bce6..1d5431ff 100644
--- a/include/mimalloc.h
+++ b/include/mimalloc.h
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ mi_decl_export bool mi_heap_visit_blocks(const mi_heap_t* heap, bool visit_all_b
 
 // Experimental
 mi_decl_export bool mi_is_in_heap_region(const void* p) mi_attr_noexcept;
-mi_decl_export int  mi_reserve_huge_os_pages(size_t pages, double max_secs) mi_attr_noexcept;
+mi_decl_export int  mi_reserve_huge_os_pages(size_t pages, double max_secs, size_t* pages_reserved) mi_attr_noexcept;
 mi_decl_export bool mi_is_redirected() mi_attr_noexcept;
 
 // ------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/src/init.c b/src/init.c
index 863214cb..480960b0 100644
--- a/src/init.c
+++ b/src/init.c
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ static void mi_process_load(void) {
   if (mi_option_is_enabled(mi_option_reserve_huge_os_pages)) {
     size_t pages     = mi_option_get(mi_option_reserve_huge_os_pages);
     double max_secs = (double)pages / 2.0; // 0.5s per page (1GiB)
-    mi_reserve_huge_os_pages(pages, max_secs);
+    mi_reserve_huge_os_pages(pages, max_secs, NULL);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/os.c b/src/os.c
index 9b5aac35..97cf7ef1 100644
--- a/src/os.c
+++ b/src/os.c
@@ -827,14 +827,17 @@ static void mi_os_free_huge_reserved() {
 */
 
 #if !(MI_INTPTR_SIZE >= 8 && (defined(_WIN32) || defined(MI_OS_USE_MMAP)))
-int mi_reserve_huge_os_pages(size_t pages, double max_secs) {
-  return -2; // cannot allocate
+int mi_reserve_huge_os_pages(size_t pages, double max_secs, size_t* pages_reserved) mi_attr_noexcept {
+  UNUSED(pages); UNUSED(max_secs);
+  if (pages_reserved != NULL) *pages_reserved = 0;
+  return ENOMEM; // cannot allocate
 }
 #else
-int mi_reserve_huge_os_pages( size_t pages, double max_secs ) mi_attr_noexcept
+int mi_reserve_huge_os_pages( size_t pages, double max_secs, size_t* pages_reserved ) mi_attr_noexcept
 {
-  if (max_secs==0) return -1; // timeout 
-  if (pages==0) return 0;     // ok
+  if (pages_reserved != NULL) *pages_reserved = 0;
+  if (max_secs==0) return ETIMEDOUT; // timeout 
+  if (pages==0) return 0;            // ok
   if (!mi_atomic_cas_ptr_strong(&os_huge_reserved.start,(void*)1,NULL)) return -2; // already reserved
 
   // Allocate one page at the time but try to place them contiguously
@@ -843,7 +846,7 @@ int mi_reserve_huge_os_pages( size_t pages, double max_secs ) mi_attr_noexcept
   uint8_t* start = (uint8_t*)((uintptr_t)16 << 40); // 16TiB virtual start address
   uint8_t* addr = start;  // current top of the allocations
   for (size_t page = 0; page < pages; page++, addr += MI_HUGE_OS_PAGE_SIZE ) {
-    // allocate lorgu pages
+    // allocate a page
     void* p = NULL; 
     bool is_large = true;
     #ifdef _WIN32
@@ -856,6 +859,7 @@ int mi_reserve_huge_os_pages( size_t pages, double max_secs ) mi_attr_noexcept
     
     // Did we succeed at a contiguous address?
     if (p != addr) {
+      // no success, issue a warning and return with an error 
       if (p != NULL) {
         _mi_warning_message("could not allocate contiguous huge page %zu at 0x%p\n", page, addr); 
         _mi_os_free(p, MI_HUGE_OS_PAGE_SIZE, &_mi_stats_main );
@@ -868,7 +872,7 @@ int mi_reserve_huge_os_pages( size_t pages, double max_secs ) mi_attr_noexcept
         #endif
         _mi_warning_message("could not allocate huge page %zu at 0x%p, error: %i\n", page, addr, err);
       }
-      return -2;
+      return ENOMEM;  
     }
     // success, record it
     if (page==0) {
@@ -880,7 +884,8 @@ int mi_reserve_huge_os_pages( size_t pages, double max_secs ) mi_attr_noexcept
     }
     _mi_stat_increase(&_mi_stats_main.committed, MI_HUGE_OS_PAGE_SIZE); 
     _mi_stat_increase(&_mi_stats_main.reserved, MI_HUGE_OS_PAGE_SIZE);
-    
+    if (pages_reserved != NULL) { *pages_reserved = page + 1; }
+
     // check for timeout
     double elapsed = _mi_clock_end(start_t);
     if (elapsed > max_secs) return (-1); // timeout