Changing root password in vCenter failed with the error "Password has been already used. Choose another."

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

SSH to the vCenter as root and attempting to change the password using passwd root failed with the following error,

root@##### [ ~ ]# passwd root
New password:
Retype new password:
Password has been already used. Choose another.
passwd: Authentication token manipulation error
passwd: password unchanged

Environment

vCenter 7.x
vCenter 8.x

Cause

The error "Password has been already used. Choose another." occurred because vCenter retains a history of the last five previously used passwords. The password being set has already been used within that history and therefore cannot be reused.

Resolution

Recommended resolutions are,

1. Set a new password that has not been used in the last five password changes.

2. Alternatively, remove the line starting with root from the /etc/security/opasswd file (do not delete the file itself). This will clear the password history for the root account. The change takes effect immediately and does not require a system reboot.

Note: Clearing the opasswd file should be done with caution, as it removes historical password data used for enforcing password reuse policies.