'Cannot execute /bin/appliancesh: No such file or directory' message when attempting root login.

Products

• VMware Cloud Director
• VMware Aria Operations 8.x

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• Attempts to SSH using the root user account results in access denied
• When attempting root login to the VMware Cloud Director console the following messages are briefly displayed, before it redirects to the blue screen:

'Cannot execute /bin/appliancesh: No such file or directory' message

• The root account is not locked, the password is not expired and resetting the root user password does not resolve.

Environment

VMware Cloud Director 10.x

VMware Aria Operation 8.x

Cause

The issue can occur when the default shell for the root user has been altered.

Resolution

To resolve the issue validate that the root users default shell is set to: /bin/bash

 

1. Access the appliance in single user mode using steps 1-4 contained in knowledge base article 376721

 

Note : Same process is performed in VMware Aria Operations to access appliance in single user mode.

 

2. Open the /etc/passwd file with command:

vi /etc/passwd

 

3. In the file you would see a line for root which potentially has '/bin/appliancesh' at the end of the line, change the end of the line to be '/bin/bash'
Save the file & you can then reboot the VM:

:wq!

For example:
root:............:/bin/appliancesh

Would need to be:
root:.............:/bin/bash

 

4. Validate if you can now ssh/console using the root user.