Unauthorized parallel devices must be disconnected on the virtual machine (VM).

Severity	Group ID	Group Title	Version	Rule ID	Date	STIG Version
medium	V-256459	SRG-OS-000480-VMM-002000	VMCH-70-000010	SV-256459r959010_rule	2024-12-16	1

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
From the vSphere Client, right-click the Virtual Machine and go to "Edit Settings". Review the VM's hardware and verify no parallel devices exist. or 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

From the vSphere Client, right-click the Virtual Machine and go to "Edit Settings". Review the VM's hardware and verify no parallel devices exist. or 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
The VM must be powered off to remove a parallel device. From the vSphere Client, right-click the Virtual Machine and go to "Edit Settings". Select the parallel device, click the circled "X" to remove it, and click "OK".