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Shocko
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Prevent Virtual Machines with Floppy Disks

HI guys,

I have no requirement for a VM to have a floppy disk. I do not include this hardware in any of my template but I notice that sometimes when I deploy a vm form a template, it gets a floppy disk. Why might this be and is there a way to prevent the use of floppy disks in ESX 5.1 U1 ?

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zXi_Gamer
Virtuoso
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That is indeed a strange issue, which I have not faced yet. But can you provide a few more details on your setup like:

HW Version?

Are you deploying from Webclient?

As a workaround for the time being, when deploying from template, before completing the process, you can select Edit Settings [Experimental feature] and click finish.

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zXi_Gamer
Virtuoso
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That is indeed a strange issue, which I have not faced yet. But can you provide a few more details on your setup like:

HW Version?

Are you deploying from Webclient?

As a workaround for the time being, when deploying from template, before completing the process, you can select Edit Settings [Experimental feature] and click finish.

vfk
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sound like your template has floppy disk in its configuration, convert your template back to a VM and confirm virtual hardware settings are configured as you want it and convert it back to a vm.

--- If you found this or any other answer helpful, please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. vfk Systems Manager / Technical Architect VCP5-DCV, VCAP5-DCA, vExpert, ITILv3, CCNA, MCP
dabson
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You didn't specify whether you see the floppy disk as part of the virtual hardware associated with the VM, or if it shows up within the guest OS. zXi_Gamer and vfk's recommendations address the issue if it's showing up with the rest of the virtual hardware. If you don't have a floppy drive as part of your VM configuration but it still shows up in your guest OS, you may have to go into the VM's BIOS to disable the floppy disk controller.


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Shocko
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Guys, my template was clean. I found out some other admins had been using the standalone convertor and that can bring in the floppy disk, Also, I have found that some users are not deploying from template but creating a new virtual machine the manual way. is there a way to prevent the use of a floppy disk when creating a vm i.e. prevent one being added to a vm ?

vfk
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I don't think there is, you can always use alarm on based on VM creation and run script to remove the floppy disk.  Here is a entry on VMware vSphere blog that does a similar thing, but for securing VM on creation.  Automatically Securing Virtual Machines Using a vCenter Alarm | VMware vSphere Blog - VMware Blogs

Interesting concept, and should give you the functionality you are looking for.

vfk

--- If you found this or any other answer helpful, please consider the use of the Helpful or Correct buttons to award points. vfk Systems Manager / Technical Architect VCP5-DCV, VCAP5-DCA, vExpert, ITILv3, CCNA, MCP
Shocko
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Thanks for the link! Basically, after some testing, if you create a new VM you get the option to use a typical configuration or custom. if you select typical, yo get a VM with:

  1. Hardware version 8 (I'm using ESXi 5.1 U1)
  2. A Floppy disk

So,l guess the real question would be, can one customize the typical configuration used?

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notfloppydisk
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So, this is 2021. Was wondering why we still see floppy disks added to VMs at this time. Some users don't even know what these are anymore at this point...

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