diff --git a/block/block-backend.c b/block/block-backend.c
index f2f75a977d..fa120630be 100644
--- a/block/block-backend.c
+++ b/block/block-backend.c
@@ -419,7 +419,6 @@ static void drive_info_del(DriveInfo *dinfo)
         return;
     }
     qemu_opts_del(dinfo->opts);
-    g_free(dinfo->serial);
     g_free(dinfo);
 }
 
diff --git a/blockdev.c b/blockdev.c
index 6c530769fd..37eb40670b 100644
--- a/blockdev.c
+++ b/blockdev.c
@@ -730,10 +730,6 @@ QemuOptsList qemu_legacy_drive_opts = {
             .name = "if",
             .type = QEMU_OPT_STRING,
             .help = "interface (ide, scsi, sd, mtd, floppy, pflash, virtio)",
-        },{
-            .name = "serial",
-            .type = QEMU_OPT_STRING,
-            .help = "disk serial number",
         },{
             .name = "file",
             .type = QEMU_OPT_STRING,
@@ -776,12 +772,10 @@ DriveInfo *drive_new(QemuOpts *all_opts, BlockInterfaceType block_default_type)
     const char *werror, *rerror;
     bool read_only = false;
     bool copy_on_read;
-    const char *serial;
     const char *filename;
     Error *local_err = NULL;
     int i;
     const char *deprecated[] = {
-        "serial"
     };
 
     /* Change legacy command line options into QMP ones */
@@ -949,9 +943,6 @@ DriveInfo *drive_new(QemuOpts *all_opts, BlockInterfaceType block_default_type)
         goto fail;
     }
 
-    /* Serial number */
-    serial = qemu_opt_get(legacy_opts, "serial");
-
     /* no id supplied -> create one */
     if (qemu_opts_id(all_opts) == NULL) {
         char *new_id;
@@ -1026,7 +1017,6 @@ DriveInfo *drive_new(QemuOpts *all_opts, BlockInterfaceType block_default_type)
     dinfo->type = type;
     dinfo->bus = bus_id;
     dinfo->unit = unit_id;
-    dinfo->serial = g_strdup(serial);
 
     blk_set_legacy_dinfo(blk, dinfo);
 
diff --git a/hw/block/block.c b/hw/block/block.c
index b6c80ab0b7..cf0eb826f1 100644
--- a/hw/block/block.c
+++ b/hw/block/block.c
@@ -15,19 +15,6 @@
 #include "qapi/qapi-types-block.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
 
-void blkconf_serial(BlockConf *conf, char **serial)
-{
-    DriveInfo *dinfo;
-
-    if (!*serial) {
-        /* try to fall back to value set with legacy -drive serial=... */
-        dinfo = blk_legacy_dinfo(conf->blk);
-        if (dinfo) {
-            *serial = g_strdup(dinfo->serial);
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 void blkconf_blocksizes(BlockConf *conf)
 {
     BlockBackend *blk = conf->blk;
diff --git a/hw/block/nvme.c b/hw/block/nvme.c
index 5e508ab1b3..fc7dacb816 100644
--- a/hw/block/nvme.c
+++ b/hw/block/nvme.c
@@ -1217,7 +1217,6 @@ static void nvme_realize(PCIDevice *pci_dev, Error **errp)
         return;
     }
 
-    blkconf_serial(&n->conf, &n->serial);
     if (!n->serial) {
         error_setg(errp, "serial property not set");
         return;
diff --git a/hw/block/virtio-blk.c b/hw/block/virtio-blk.c
index 50b5c869e3..225fe44b7a 100644
--- a/hw/block/virtio-blk.c
+++ b/hw/block/virtio-blk.c
@@ -935,7 +935,6 @@ static void virtio_blk_device_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
         return;
     }
 
-    blkconf_serial(&conf->conf, &conf->serial);
     if (!blkconf_apply_backend_options(&conf->conf,
                                        blk_is_read_only(conf->conf.blk), true,
                                        errp)) {
diff --git a/hw/ide/qdev.c b/hw/ide/qdev.c
index f395d24592..573b022e1e 100644
--- a/hw/ide/qdev.c
+++ b/hw/ide/qdev.c
@@ -188,7 +188,6 @@ static void ide_dev_initfn(IDEDevice *dev, IDEDriveKind kind, Error **errp)
         return;
     }
 
-    blkconf_serial(&dev->conf, &dev->serial);
     if (kind != IDE_CD) {
         if (!blkconf_geometry(&dev->conf, &dev->chs_trans, 65535, 16, 255,
                               errp)) {
diff --git a/hw/scsi/scsi-disk.c b/hw/scsi/scsi-disk.c
index 5bb390773b..5ae7baa082 100644
--- a/hw/scsi/scsi-disk.c
+++ b/hw/scsi/scsi-disk.c
@@ -2379,7 +2379,6 @@ static void scsi_realize(SCSIDevice *dev, Error **errp)
         return;
     }
 
-    blkconf_serial(&s->qdev.conf, &s->serial);
     blkconf_blocksizes(&s->qdev.conf);
 
     if (s->qdev.conf.logical_block_size >
diff --git a/hw/usb/dev-storage.c b/hw/usb/dev-storage.c
index 45a9487cdb..cd5551d94f 100644
--- a/hw/usb/dev-storage.c
+++ b/hw/usb/dev-storage.c
@@ -599,7 +599,6 @@ static void usb_msd_storage_realize(USBDevice *dev, Error **errp)
         return;
     }
 
-    blkconf_serial(&s->conf, &dev->serial);
     blkconf_blocksizes(&s->conf);
     if (!blkconf_apply_backend_options(&s->conf, blk_is_read_only(blk), true,
                                        errp)) {
diff --git a/include/hw/block/block.h b/include/hw/block/block.h
index d4f4dfffab..e9f9e2223f 100644
--- a/include/hw/block/block.h
+++ b/include/hw/block/block.h
@@ -72,7 +72,6 @@ static inline unsigned int get_physical_block_exp(BlockConf *conf)
 
 /* Configuration helpers */
 
-void blkconf_serial(BlockConf *conf, char **serial);
 bool blkconf_geometry(BlockConf *conf, int *trans,
                       unsigned cyls_max, unsigned heads_max, unsigned secs_max,
                       Error **errp);
diff --git a/include/sysemu/blockdev.h b/include/sysemu/blockdev.h
index c0ae3700ec..24954b94e0 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/blockdev.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/blockdev.h
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ struct DriveInfo {
     bool is_default;            /* Added by default_drive() ?  */
     int media_cd;
     QemuOpts *opts;
-    char *serial;
     QTAILQ_ENTRY(DriveInfo) next;
 };
 
diff --git a/qemu-deprecated.texi b/qemu-deprecated.texi
index 6d7aaab2cd..df319cfd82 100644
--- a/qemu-deprecated.texi
+++ b/qemu-deprecated.texi
@@ -94,11 +94,6 @@ with ``-device ...,netdev=x''), or ``-nic user,smb=/some/dir''
 (for embedded NICs). The new syntax allows different settings to be
 provided per NIC.
 
-@subsection -drive serial=... (since 2.10.0)
-
-The drive serial argument is replaced by the the serial argument
-that can be specified with the ``-device'' parameter.
-
 @subsection -usbdevice (since 2.10.0)
 
 The ``-usbdevice DEV'' argument is now a synonym for setting
diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index a42917f41c..ea4edb4938 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -805,7 +805,7 @@ ETEXI
 DEF("drive", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_drive,
     "-drive [file=file][,if=type][,bus=n][,unit=m][,media=d][,index=i]\n"
     "       [,cache=writethrough|writeback|none|directsync|unsafe][,format=f]\n"
-    "       [,snapshot=on|off][,serial=s][,rerror=ignore|stop|report]\n"
+    "       [,snapshot=on|off][,rerror=ignore|stop|report]\n"
     "       [,werror=ignore|stop|report|enospc][,id=name][,aio=threads|native]\n"
     "       [,readonly=on|off][,copy-on-read=on|off]\n"
     "       [,discard=ignore|unmap][,detect-zeroes=on|off|unmap]\n"
@@ -879,10 +879,6 @@ The default mode is @option{cache=writeback}.
 Specify which disk @var{format} will be used rather than detecting
 the format.  Can be used to specify format=raw to avoid interpreting
 an untrusted format header.
-@item serial=@var{serial}
-This option specifies the serial number to assign to the device. This
-parameter is deprecated, use the corresponding parameter of @code{-device}
-instead.
 @item werror=@var{action},rerror=@var{action}
 Specify which @var{action} to take on write and read errors. Valid actions are:
 "ignore" (ignore the error and try to continue), "stop" (pause QEMU),
diff --git a/tests/ahci-test.c b/tests/ahci-test.c
index 1a7b761304..937ed2f910 100644
--- a/tests/ahci-test.c
+++ b/tests/ahci-test.c
@@ -180,12 +180,12 @@ static AHCIQState *ahci_boot(const char *cli, ...)
         s = ahci_vboot(cli, ap);
         va_end(ap);
     } else {
-        cli = "-drive if=none,id=drive0,file=%s,cache=writeback,serial=%s"
-            ",format=%s"
+        cli = "-drive if=none,id=drive0,file=%s,cache=writeback,format=%s"
             " -M q35 "
             "-device ide-hd,drive=drive0 "
+            "-global ide-hd.serial=%s "
             "-global ide-hd.ver=%s";
-        s = ahci_boot(cli, tmp_path, "testdisk", imgfmt, "version");
+        s = ahci_boot(cli, tmp_path, imgfmt, "testdisk", "version");
     }
 
     return s;
diff --git a/tests/ide-test.c b/tests/ide-test.c
index 2384c2c3e2..f39431b1a9 100644
--- a/tests/ide-test.c
+++ b/tests/ide-test.c
@@ -529,8 +529,8 @@ static void test_bmdma_no_busmaster(void)
 static void test_bmdma_setup(void)
 {
     ide_test_start(
-        "-drive file=%s,if=ide,serial=%s,cache=writeback,format=raw "
-        "-global ide-hd.ver=%s",
+        "-drive file=%s,if=ide,cache=writeback,format=raw "
+        "-global ide-hd.serial=%s -global ide-hd.ver=%s",
         tmp_path, "testdisk", "version");
     qtest_irq_intercept_in(global_qtest, "ioapic");
 }
@@ -561,8 +561,8 @@ static void test_identify(void)
     int ret;
 
     ide_test_start(
-        "-drive file=%s,if=ide,serial=%s,cache=writeback,format=raw "
-        "-global ide-hd.ver=%s",
+        "-drive file=%s,if=ide,cache=writeback,format=raw "
+        "-global ide-hd.serial=%s -global ide-hd.ver=%s",
         tmp_path, "testdisk", "version");
 
     dev = get_pci_device(&bmdma_bar, &ide_bar);