diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/vbox_fix.yml b/changelogs/fragments/vbox_fix.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e968c883bd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/vbox_fix.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+    - preserve Noneness of pwdfile when it is None in virtualbox inventory plugin
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/virtualbox.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/virtualbox.py
index e66f2807679..2e807da7346 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/virtualbox.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/inventory/virtualbox.py
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable, Cacheable):
                 update_cache = True
 
         if not source_data:
-            b_pwfile = to_bytes(self.get_option('settings_password_file'), errors='surrogate_or_strict')
+            b_pwfile = to_bytes(self.get_option('settings_password_file'), errors='surrogate_or_strict', nonstring='passthru')
             running = self.get_option('running_only')
 
             # start getting data