Connecting to vCenter Server Virtual Appliance using WinSCP fails with the error: Received too large (1433299822 B) SFTP packet. Max supported packet size is 1024000 B
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Connecting to vCenter Server Virtual Appliance using WinSCP fails with the error: Received too large (1433299822 B) SFTP packet. Max supported packet size is 1024000 B

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Article ID: 326317

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Updated On: 01-30-2025

Products

VMware vCenter Server 7.0 VMware vCenter Server 8.0 VMware vCenter Server 6.0

Issue/Introduction

  • Connecting to vCenter Server using WinSCP fails with the error: "Received too large (1433299822 B) SFTP packet. Max supported packet size is 1024000 B"
  • Attempting to upload a file to the vCenter Server using the SCP protocol via WinSCP, PSCP or other SCP clients fail with the error: "Host is not communicating for more than 15 seconds. If the problem repeats, try turning off 'Optimize connection buffer size'"

Cause

  • When using WinSCP, part of the operation occurs on the target system. The default Appliance Shell cannot be the remote partner of WinSCP.

  • By default, VCSA is set to Appliance Shell, but SCP requires Bash shell.

Resolution

To resolve the issue, enable the Bash shell on the appliance:

SSH to the vCenter Server Appliance. (Provide the root username and password when prompted.)

  1. If using vCenter Server 6.0.x enable the BASH shell by running the command below. This is no longer needed with vCSA 6.5.x and later.

            # shell.set --enable True

     2. Access the Bash shell:

            # shell

     3. In the Bash shell, change the default shell to Bash:

            # chsh -s /bin/bash root

Note: If the following message appears indicating the root password has expired:

You are required to change your password immediately (password expired / root enforced / administrator enforced)
Changing password for root.
Current password:
New password:
Retype new password:

 

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To revert the changes, use the below command

# chsh -s /bin/appliancesh root  

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