This post provides steps to reset a lost, forgotten, or expired root password for a vCenter Server Appliance (or external PSC) 6.5 and later.
Important: This article is explicitly for the vCenter Server Appliance (and external PSC 6.5 and 6.7) 6.5 and later.
- Take a snapshot or backup of the vCenter Server Appliance before proceeding.
Caution: DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP
Note: If the vCenter Appliance is on the same ESXi hosts it manages. Connect directly to the ESXi host that it is located on to perform these steps. - Reboot the vCenter Server Appliance.
- After the VCSA Photon OS starts, press the e key to enter the GNU GRUB Edit Menu.
- Locate the line that begins with the word Linux.
- Append these entries to the end of the line:
rw init=/bin/bash
- Press F10 to continue booting.
- Run the command
mount -o remount,rw /
- In the Command prompt, enter the command passwd and provide a new root password (twice for confirmation):
passwd - Unmount the filesystem by running this command (yes, the unmount command is umount - it's not a spelling error):
umount / - Reboot the vCenter Server Appliance by running this command:
reboot -f - Confirm that you can access the vCenter Server Appliance using the new root password.
- Remove the snapshot taken in Step 1 if applicable.
- You could set the Root password to never expire in order to prevent this issue by running command:
# chage -I -1 -m 0 -M 99999 -E -1 root or at the VAMI ( https://<vcenter_fqdn>:5480)
