diff --git a/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go b/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
index aac86f9465..bc414d9006 100644
--- a/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
+++ b/app/vmselect/netstorage/netstorage.go
@@ -1380,11 +1380,6 @@ func (snr *storageNodesRequest) collectResults(partialResultsCounter *metrics.Co
 		// passed to startStorageNodesRequest must be finished until the deadline.
 		result := <-snr.resultsCh
 		if err := f(result); err != nil {
-			if snr.denyPartialResponse {
-				// Immediately return the error to the caller if partial responses are denied.
-				// There is no need to wait for responses from other vmstorage nodes - they will be processed in background.
-				return false, err
-			}
 			var er *errRemote
 			if errors.As(err, &er) {
 				// Immediately return the error reported by vmstorage to the caller,
@@ -1393,6 +1388,12 @@ func (snr *storageNodesRequest) collectResults(partialResultsCounter *metrics.Co
 				return false, err
 			}
 			errsPartial = append(errsPartial, err)
+			if snr.denyPartialResponse && len(errsPartial) >= *replicationFactor {
+				// Return the error to the caller if partial responses are denied
+				// and the number of partial responses reach -replicationFactor,
+				// since this means that the response is partial.
+				return false, err
+			}
 			continue
 		}
 		resultsCollected++
diff --git a/docs/CHANGELOG.md b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
index 1dc03cc113..9cc2b765c2 100644
--- a/docs/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/docs/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ scrape_configs:
 ```
 
 * BUGFIX: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html): make sure that [stale markers](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent.html#prometheus-staleness-markers) are generated with the actual timestamp when unsuccessful scrape occurs. This should prevent from possible time series overlap on scrape target restart in dynmaic envirnoments such as Kubernetes.
+* BUGFIX: [VictoriaMetrics cluster](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/Cluster-VictoriaMetrics.html): assume that the response is complete if `-search.denyPartialResponse` is enabled and up to `-replicationFactor - 1` `vmstorage` nodes are unavailable. See [this issue](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1767).
 
 ## [v1.78.0](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.78.0)