Removing Virtual Floppy Drives Using PowerCLI

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• Virtual floppy drives are visible within the Guest OS or ESXi Host Client but do not appear in vCenter Server "Edit Settings."
• Stale datastore references persist due to virtual floppy images (.flp) being locked in the VM configuration.
• Manual removal via vCenter UI is unavailable as the device is not listed under Virtual Hardware.

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x
• VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

In vSphere 7.x and 8.x, legacy devices like floppy drives are often hidden from the vSphere Client UI. However, the configuration parameters (e.g., floppy0.present = "TRUE") remain in the .vmx file, causing the device to persist in the hardware metadata.

Resolution

To remove hidden devices without manual .vmx editing or host-level SSH access, use the VMware PowerCLI Remove-FloppyDrive cmdlet:

NOTE: This command will make changes to the VM hardware configuration. Ensure you have a valid backup or snapshot of the VM before running bulk automation scripts.

(Recommendation: Power off the virtual machine before execution to ensure the configuration is committed without conflict.)

1. Open a PowerShell/PowerCLI window.
2. Connect to your vCenter Server:
   Connect-VIServer -Server "<vCenter_FQDN_or_IP>"
3. To remove the floppy drive from a single specific VM:
   Get-VM "<VM_Name>" | Get-FloppyDrive | Remove-FloppyDrive -Confirm:$false
4. To identify and remove floppy drives from all VMs in the inventory:
   Get-VM | Get-FloppyDrive | Remove-FloppyDrive -Confirm:$false
5. Power on the VM and verify the device is no longer visible in the Guest OS.