Set up a new vCenter Server a while back and didn’t write down the password. Guess what happened next, trying to find a way to reset both of them.
Here is what I managed to do.
First of all, reset the “root” password.
Log in to the ESXi host that powers the vCenter Appliance and do the following steps:
- Open the vCenter Console and reboot it.
- Press the “e” key right after the VCSA Photon OS start to enter the GNU GRUB Edit menu.
- Add the following line at the end of the line that starts with the word “linux”.
rw init=/bin/bash - Press F10 to continue booting once done.
- Then run the following commands
mount -o remount,rw / passwd unmount / reboot -f
Now go to https://serverip:5480/ to access the vCenter Server Appliance using the new password.
Now, let’s reset the Single Sign-On Password:
Log in vCenter Server Appliance to enable SSH and then log in as the root user via SSH.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.kjctech.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/image.png?fit=600%2C225&ssl=1)
Run the following command to enable access to the bash shell.
set --enable true
Type “shell” and press enter. And then run:
/usr/lib/vmware-vmdir/bin/vdcadmintool
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.kjctech.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/image-1.png?resize=593%2C239&ssl=1)
Press 3 to enter the Reset Account Password option to generate a new temporary password that you can log in to vCenter Server. From there, you can change the password to whatever you want.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.kjctech.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/image-2.png?resize=501%2C227&ssl=1)
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