vCenter displays 400 error on landing page; cannot log in to vCenter

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Error message:
[400] An error occurred while sending an authentication request to the vCenter Single Sign-On server - An error occurred when processing the metadata during vCenter Single Sign-On setup - Failed to retrieve an STS client for SSO domain vsphere.local

Log in is not available due to the error. Unable to log in to vCenter.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

Expired certificates including, but not limited to:

• VMCA certificate
• STS certificate
• Solution User certificates
• SMS certificate

Resolution

Use the vCert utility, option 1, to check certificate status.

Individually regenerate expired certificates using the vCert utility, option 3.

Additional Information

vCert - Scripted vCenter expired certificate replacement
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/385107/vcert-expired-certificate-replacement-s.html