For passwords that have expired, the default vCenter Server Appliance password expires after 90 days
Note: Take a snapshot or backup of the vCenter Server Appliance before proceeding.
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.
To reset the root password for the vCenter Server Appliance:
- 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)
- 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 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)
Note: 6.7U1 and later has a simpler method to reset the password, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/75174
VMware KB Reference: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147144