A general System error occurred: passwd: Module is unknown

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:
When trying to add ESXi host to vCenter, the following error is displayed:

"A general system error occurred: passwd: Module is unknown"

Cause

/etc/pam.d/passwd configuration file has an incompatible entry.

Resolution

1- Create a backup directory
Note: Create a new directory or save it on a different path because if you save it on the same directory it will not work
     # mkdir backup

2-  Backup the /etc/pam.d/passwd file.
    # mv /etc/pam.d/passwd /etc/pam.d/backup

2- Recreate the passwd file again.
    # cp /etc/pam.d/.#passwd /etc/pam.d/passwd

3- Reconnect the ESXi host to the vCenter server through the UI

4- Once the host reconnect is successful delete the backup file.
     # rm -rf /etc/pam.d/backup/passwd

Additional Information

Impact/Risks:
Unable to add ESXi host to vCenter.