Reset Root Password

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Introduction

This guide outlines the necessary procedures for resetting a root password that has been lost, forgotten, or has expired on a vCenter Server Appliance (or external PSC) 6.5 or later version. This can commonly occur as a result of password expiration, where the default vCenter Server Appliance password expires every 90 days.

Requirements

• VMware vCenter Server Appliance v6.5+
• Network access to the vCenter Server Appliance.

Instructions

1. Take a snapshot or backup of the vCenter Server Appliance before proceeding.
   
   

   Caution, do not skip this step.

   
   
2. Reboot the vCenter Server Appliance.
3. After the VCSA Photon OS starts, press the e key to enter the GNU GRUB Edit Menu.
4. Locate the line that begins with the word Linux.
5. Append these entries to the end of the line:
   
   

   rw init=/bin/bash

   The line should look like the following screenshot:
   
   

   
   
   

6. Press F10 to continue booting.
7. Run the command:
   
   

   mount -o remount,rw /

     
8. In the Command prompt, enter the command passwd and provide a new root password (twice for confirmation):
   
   

   passwd

9. Unmount the filesystem by running this command (yes, the unmount command is umount  -  it's not a spelling error):
   
   

   umount /

10. Reboot the vCenter Server Appliance by running this command:
    
    

    reboot -f

11. Confirm that you can access the vCenter Server Appliance using the new root password.
12. Remove the snapshot taken in Step 1 if applicable.
13. You could set the Root password to never expire in the VAMI  (https://<vcenter_fqdn>:5480)

Sources

• kb.vmware.com - Resetting root password in vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 / 6.7 / 7.x (2147144)

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