How to reset the VRM, SDDC Manager Controller, SDDC Manager Utility, VIA or Cloud Builder root user password

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

This article provides instructions to reset the VRM, SDDC Manager Controller or SDDC Manager Utility root user password in a VMware Cloud Foundation environment.

Resolution

To recover access to the root account, you must reset the password in Single User Mode on the VRM, SDDC Manager Controller or SDDC Manager Utility virtual machine.

 

To enter Single User Mode for VMware Cloud Foundation 2.1:

1. Connect to vCenter Server via the vSphere Client.
2. Right-click the affected VM and click Open Console.
3. Under the VM menu, click Power > Shut Down Guest.
4. When the shutdown completes, go to the VM menu > Power > Power On.

Note: The GRUB boot menu appears for a few seconds. If you miss it, reboot and try again.

5. Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate to the first entry, and press e to edit the relevant boot parameters.
6. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the line beginning with kernel and press e to edit.
7. Append the following to the end of the line:
   
   init=/bin/bash

Note:  There should be a space between the end of the existing line and the appended entry.

8. ​Press Enter to confirm the changes and the b key to continue booting for the VRM VM.
9. Enter the following command to mount the / file system in read/write mode:​

mount -o remount,rw 

 

To enter Single User Mode for VMware Cloud Foundation 2.2 and beyond:

1. Connect to vCenter Server via the vSphere Client.
2. Right-click the affected VM and click Open Console.
3. Under the VM menu, click Power > Shut Down Guest.
4. When the shutdown completes, go to the VM menu > Power > Power On.
5. When the Photon splash screen appears, press e to edit the relevant boot parameters.
6. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the line beginning with linux  and press e to edit.
7. Append the following to the end of the line:
   
   rw init=/bin/bash 

Note:  There should be a space between the end of the existing line and the appended entry.

8. Press the F10 key to continue booting the VM.
9. Enter the following command to mount the / file system in read/write mode:​

mount -o remount,rw /

 

Set new passwords

 

When the VM has booted successfully to Single User Mode, you have root-level console access and you are able to set new passwords for accounts.

 

To set a new root password, run the command:

 

passwd root

Note: Follow normal built-in password policies. For example, do not use a password that has been used before.

 

Issue the umount / and  reboot -f commands to reboot the affected virtual machine.

 

Note: It may take up to 10 minutes after rebooting the VRM or SDDC Manager Controller virtual machine before the SDDC Manager UI is available again.

Additional Information

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