After restoring vCenter Server from a file-based backup, an error message appears when logging in as a non-root local user

Products

• VMware vCenter Server 8.0

Issue/Introduction

After restoring a vCenter Server from a file-based backup, logging in as a user other than root may result in the following error message:

Could not chdir to home directory /home/<LocalUserName>: No such file or directory

Environment

VMware vCenter Server

Cause

When restoring using a file-based backup, manually added local users are restored, but their directories are not restored.

Resolution

Workaround:

Recreate the user directory. Log in as root and run the following in a BASH shell:

# mkdir /home/<username>
# chown <username>:users /home/<username>
# chmod 700 /home/<username>