diff --git a/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/VSphereConnectionForm.tsx b/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/VSphereConnectionForm.tsx
index 5e0bd8c0aaa..762dc40a571 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/VSphereConnectionForm.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/VSphereConnectionForm.tsx
@@ -141,7 +141,6 @@ export const VSphereConnectionForm = () => {
             }
           />
         }
-        isRequired
         fieldId="connection-folder"
       >
         <TextField name="folder" />
diff --git a/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/VSphereConnectionModal.tsx b/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/VSphereConnectionModal.tsx
index 8148af25f3c..6f32036ed38 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/VSphereConnectionModal.tsx
+++ b/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/VSphereConnectionModal.tsx
@@ -123,7 +123,6 @@ const validationSchema = Yup.lazy((values: ConnectionFormFormikValues) =>
       )
       .matches(datastoreRegex, `Must match regex ${datastoreRegex}`),
     folder: Yup.string()
-      .required('Virtual Machine Folder is required.')
       .test('Correct prefix', `Must start with /${values.datacenter}/vm/`, (value: string) => {
         if (!value || !values.datacenter) {
           return true;
diff --git a/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/persist.ts b/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/persist.ts
index 965835b76b0..90b2eb84173 100644
--- a/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/persist.ts
+++ b/frontend/packages/vsphere-plugin/src/components/persist.ts
@@ -509,7 +509,12 @@ const getPersistInfrastructureOp = async (
   if (values.network) {
     vCenterDomainCfg.topology.networks = [values.network];
   }
-  vCenterDomainCfg.topology.folder = values.folder;
+  // Folder is optional, so we need to handle the case where it's unset
+  if (values.folder) {
+    vCenterDomainCfg.topology.folder = values.folder;
+  } else {
+    delete vCenterDomainCfg.topology.folder;
+  }
 
   vCenterDomainCfg.topology.resourcePool = getInfrastructureResourcePoolPath(
     values,