diff --git a/builder/vmware/common/step_clean_vmx.go b/builder/vmware/common/step_clean_vmx.go
index f112227f8..db0db5aac 100644
--- a/builder/vmware/common/step_clean_vmx.go
+++ b/builder/vmware/common/step_clean_vmx.go
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ func (s StepCleanVMX) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multistep
 	}
 	vmxData["floppy0.present"] = "FALSE"
 
-	devRe := regexp.MustCompile(`^ide\d:\d\.`)
+	devRe := regexp.MustCompile(`^(ide|sata)\d:\d\.`)
 	for k, v := range vmxData {
 		ide := devRe.FindString(k)
 		if ide == "" || v != "cdrom-image" {
diff --git a/builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go b/builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go
index db9010a04..432d543fe 100644
--- a/builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go
+++ b/builder/vmware/iso/step_create_vmx.go
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ type vmxTemplateData struct {
 	ISOPath string
 	Version string
 
+	HDD_BootOrder string
+
 	SCSI_Present         string
 	SCSI_diskAdapterType string
 	SATA_Present         string
@@ -382,6 +384,7 @@ func (s *stepCreateVMX) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multist
 		NVME_Present:         "FALSE",
 
 		DiskType:              "scsi",
+		HDD_BootOrder:         "scsi0:0",
 		CDROMType:             "ide",
 		CDROMType_MasterSlave: "0",
 
@@ -396,23 +399,28 @@ func (s *stepCreateVMX) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multist
 
 	/// Use the disk adapter type that the user specified to tweak the .vmx
 	//  Also sync the cdrom adapter type according to what's common for that disk type.
+	//  XXX: If the cdrom type is modified, make sure to update common/step_clean_vmx.go
+	//       so that it will regex the correct cdrom device for removal.
 	diskAdapterType := strings.ToLower(config.DiskAdapterType)
 	switch diskAdapterType {
 	case "ide":
 		templateData.DiskType = "ide"
 		templateData.CDROMType = "ide"
 		templateData.CDROMType_MasterSlave = "1"
+		templateData.HDD_BootOrder = "ide0:0"
 	case "sata":
 		templateData.SATA_Present = "TRUE"
 		templateData.DiskType = "sata"
 		templateData.CDROMType = "sata"
 		templateData.CDROMType_MasterSlave = "1"
+		templateData.HDD_BootOrder = "sata0:0"
 	case "nvme":
 		templateData.NVME_Present = "TRUE"
 		templateData.DiskType = "nvme"
 		templateData.SATA_Present = "TRUE"
 		templateData.CDROMType = "sata"
 		templateData.CDROMType_MasterSlave = "0"
+		templateData.HDD_BootOrder = "nvme0:0"
 	case "scsi":
 		diskAdapterType = "lsilogic"
 		fallthrough
@@ -422,6 +430,7 @@ func (s *stepCreateVMX) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag) multist
 		templateData.DiskType = "scsi"
 		templateData.CDROMType = "ide"
 		templateData.CDROMType_MasterSlave = "0"
+		templateData.HDD_BootOrder = "scsi0:0"
 	}
 
 	/// Handle the cdrom adapter type. If the disk adapter type and the
@@ -641,7 +650,8 @@ func (s *stepCreateVMX) Cleanup(multistep.StateBag) {
 // do so by specifying in the builder configuration.
 const DefaultVMXTemplate = `
 .encoding = "UTF-8"
-bios.bootOrder = "hdd,CDROM"
+bios.bootOrder = "hdd,cdrom"
+bios.hddOrder = "{{ .HDD_BootOrder }}"
 checkpoint.vmState = ""
 cleanShutdown = "TRUE"
 config.version = "8"