This KB provides the way to recover access to a vCenter Server Appliance with root account.
vCenter Server 8.0
vCenter Server 7.0
vCenter Server 6.7
With the default settings, the vCenter Server Appliance's root user password expires after 90 days.
For more information, see Change the Password and Password Expiration Settings of the Root User
Process to Reset the Root Password in vCenter Server Appliance(VCSA):
To reset the root password for the vCenter Server Appliance:
rw init=/bin/bash
The line should look like the following screenshot:
Last password change : Aug 20, 2024
Password expires : Nov 18, 2024
Password inactive : never
Account expires : never
Minimum number of days between password change : 0
Maximum number of days between password change : 90
Number of days of warning before password expires : 7
Additionally, to check the password details for the administrator@vsphere.local (default SSO) account, run the following command from the vCenter SSH session:
root@vc[~]# chage -l sso-user
example:
root@vc [ / ]# chage -l sso-user
Last password change : Feb 14, 2023
Password expires : May 15, 2023
Password inactive : May 15, 2023
Account expires : never
Minimum number of days between password change : 1
Maximum number of days between password change : 90
Number of days of warning before password expires : 7
For 7.0 U1 and 6.7 U3j there are a few changes:
Changes in 8.0 U2 and above versions:
For more information, see -