How to change vCenter Server Service account in vCenter Server 6.5/6.7

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

vCenter Services in vCenter Server 6.5/6.7 are controlled by vmon service. If the windows vCenter service account need to be changed for a particular service it need to be updated through vmon.

The KB explain on how to change vCenter Server Service account in vCenter Server 6.5/6.7

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x

Resolution

• Ensure The domain user account has below rights configured under ' Windows Administrative Tools -> Local Security -> Local Policies -> User Rights Management'( A reboot is required for change to take effect).
• • Logon as Service
  • Act as part of the operating system
  • Replace a process level token

• Follow the steps below to change service account:

1. 1. Stop the vCenter Server services.Open the command prompt as Administrator on the vCenter server machine.
      
      • cd C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\bin
      • service-control --stop --all
        
        
   2. Change the logon system account for VMware Afd Service , VMware Life Cycle Manger Service and VMware vCenter Configuration Service to the desired domain account
   3. Start vMon Service only on vCenter Server via Command.
      
        service-control --start vmware-vmon
      
      
   4. Update the password for the domain account in vmon using the command.Navigate to the default location C:\Program Files\VMware\vCenter Server\vmon\.
      
       vmon.exe -P username@domain
      
      
   5. List the service which require update using
      
       vmon-cli.exe -l
      
      
   6. Update each service to be run as service account user account from command line.

vmon-cli.exe -U cis-license --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U cm --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U content-library --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U eam --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U imagebuilder --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U mbcs --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U netdumper --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U perfcharts --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U rbd --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U rhttpproxy --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U sca --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U sps --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vapi-endpoint --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vmcam --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vmonapi --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vmsyslogcollector --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vpxd --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vpxd-svcs --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vsan-health --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vsm --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vsphere-client --runasuser username@domain
vmon-cli.exe -U vsphere-ui --runasuser username@domain

Note: If the vCenter Server service is using Microsoft SQL as the vCenter Database and Windows Integrated Authentication is used in ODBC configuration, Additional steps are required:

For more information Changing the vCenter Server database user ID and password