Symptoms

  • The root account password of VMware vCenter Server Appliance fails
  • The root account of the vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 and above is locked or account is expired
  • The root account password has been lost or forgotten
Note: The above symptoms can also occur on an external Platform Services Controller (PSC) running on vSphere 6.5 and 6.7.


Resolution

Process to Reset the Root Password in VCSA:

Note: 6.7U1 and later has a simpler method to reset the password, see How to reset the lost or forgotten root password in vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 U1 and later

To reset the root password for the vCenter Server Appliance:

  1. 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.
  1. Reboot the vCenter Server Appliance.
  2. After the VCSA Photon OS starts, press the e key to enter the GNU GRUB Edit Menu.
  3. Locate the line that begins with the word Linux.
  4. Append these entries to the end of the line:

    rw init=/bin/bash

    The line should look like the following screenshot:

    Reset root password in VCSA - rw init=/bin/bash 
  5. Press F10 to continue booting.
  6. Run the command  
mount -o remount,rw / 
  1. In the Command prompt, enter the command passwd and provide a new root password (twice for confirmation):
passwd
 
  1. Unmount the filesystem by running this command (yes, the unmount command is umount  -  it's not a spelling error):
umount /
 
  1. Reboot the vCenter Server Appliance by running this command:
reboot -f
 
  1. Confirm that you can access the vCenter Server Appliance using the new root password.
  2. Remove the snapshot taken in Step 1 if applicable.
  3. 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)