Virtual machines (VMs) must remove unneeded parallel devices.

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-258724	SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000	VMCH-80-000211	SV-258724r959010_rule	2024-07-11	2

Description
Ensure no device is connected to a virtual machine if it is not required. For example, floppy, serial, and parallel ports are rarely used for virtual machines in a data center environment, and CD/DVD drives are usually connected only temporarily during software installation.

ℹ️ Check
Parallel devices are no longer visible through the vSphere Client and must be done via the Application Programming Interface (API) or PowerCLI. From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host or vCenter server, run the following command: Get-VM \| Where {$_.ExtensionData.Config.Hardware.Device.DeviceInfo.Label -match "parallel"} If a virtual machine has a parallel device present, this is a finding.

ℹ️ Check

Parallel devices are no longer visible through the vSphere Client and must be done via the Application Programming Interface (API) or PowerCLI. From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host or vCenter server, run the following command: Get-VM | Where {$_.ExtensionData.Config.Hardware.Device.DeviceInfo.Label -match "parallel"} If a virtual machine has a parallel device present, this is a finding.

✔️ Fix
Parallel devices are no longer visible through the vSphere Client and must be done via the Application Programming Interface (API) or PowerCLI. The VM must be powered off to remove a parallel device. From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host or vCenter server, run the following commands: $pport = (Get-VM -Name <vmname>).ExtensionData.Config.Hardware.Device \| Where {$_.DeviceInfo.Label -match "Parallel"} $spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec $spec.DeviceChange += New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpec $spec.DeviceChange[-1].device = $pport $spec.DeviceChange[-1].operation = "remove" (Get-VM -Name <vmname>).ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)

✔️ Fix

Parallel devices are no longer visible through the vSphere Client and must be done via the Application Programming Interface (API) or PowerCLI. The VM must be powered off to remove a parallel device. From a PowerCLI command prompt while connected to the ESXi host or vCenter server, run the following commands: $pport = (Get-VM -Name <vmname>).ExtensionData.Config.Hardware.Device | Where {$_.DeviceInfo.Label -match "Parallel"} $spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec $spec.DeviceChange += New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualDeviceConfigSpec $spec.DeviceChange[-1].device = $pport $spec.DeviceChange[-1].operation = "remove" (Get-VM -Name <vmname>).ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)