fix: always apply hardware configuration

Updated `StepConfigureHardware` to always run hardware configuration, even when the config is empty, to ensure template settings are preserved.

Signed-off-by: Ryan Johnson <rya@tenthirtyam.org>

Author: tenthirtyam

builder/vsphere/common/step_hardware.go

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ package common
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"reflect"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/packer-plugin-sdk/multistep"
 	packersdk "github.com/hashicorp/packer-plugin-sdk/packer"
@@ -147,8 +146,15 @@ func (s *StepConfigureHardware) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag)
 	ui := state.Get("ui").(packersdk.Ui)
 	vm := state.Get("vm").(driver.VirtualMachine)
 
-	if !reflect.DeepEqual(*s.Config, HardwareConfig{}) {
-		ui.Say("Customizing hardware...")
+	hasCustomConfig := s.hasCustomHardwareConfig()
+
+	// Always run hardware configuration to preserve template settings.
+	{
+		if hasCustomConfig {
+			ui.Say("Customizing hardware...")
+		} else {
+			ui.Say("Applying hardware configuration...")
+		}
 
 		var allowedDevices []driver.PCIPassthroughAllowedDevice
 		for _, device := range s.Config.AllowedDevices {
@@ -184,4 +190,24 @@ func (s *StepConfigureHardware) Run(_ context.Context, state multistep.StateBag)
 	return multistep.ActionContinue
 }
 
+// hasCustomHardwareConfig checks if user provided custom hardware configuration.
+func (s *StepConfigureHardware) hasCustomHardwareConfig() bool {
+	c := s.Config
+
+	if c.CPUs != 0 || c.CpuCores != 0 || c.CPUReservation != 0 || c.CPULimit != 0 ||
+		c.RAM != 0 || c.RAMReservation != 0 || c.RAMReserveAll ||
+		c.CpuHotAddEnabled || c.MemoryHotAddEnabled ||
+		c.VideoRAM != 0 || c.Displays != 0 || c.NestedHV ||
+		c.VGPUProfile != "" || c.Firmware != "" || c.ForceBIOSSetup ||
+		c.VTPMEnabled || c.VirtualPrecisionClock != "" {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	if len(c.AllowedDevices) > 0 {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
+
 func (s *StepConfigureHardware) Cleanup(multistep.StateBag) {}

builder/vsphere/common/step_hardware_test.go

@@ -150,11 +150,12 @@ func TestStepConfigureHardware_Run(t *testing.T) {
 			hardwareConfig:  driverHardwareConfigFromConfig(basicStepConfigureHardware().Config),
 		},
 		{
-			name:            "Don't configure hardware when config is empty",
+			name:            "Configure hardware even when config is empty (preserves template settings)",
 			step:            &StepConfigureHardware{Config: &HardwareConfig{}},
 			action:          multistep.ActionContinue,
 			configureError:  nil,
-			configureCalled: false,
+			configureCalled: true,
+			hardwareConfig:  driverHardwareConfigFromConfig(&HardwareConfig{}),
 		},
 		{
 			name:            "Halt when configure return error",