Unable to clear NFS user host configuration passwords in host profiles leading to host profile drift warnings

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

In VMware vCenter, a Host Profile may report a "drift" or "non-compliant" status due to the NFS user host configuration passwords being unexpectedly populated. Standard methods to clear these values often fail:

• Manually deleting the password in the Host Profile editor and saving does not persist; the password field remains (visibly) populated.

• Unchecking the "NFS user host configuration" box within the profile editor does not successfully clear the underlying configuration or resolve the drift.

 

Environment

VMware vCenter 8.x

VMware ESX 8.x

Cause

This is expected behavior within the Host Profile editor where manually deleting or deselecting the NFS user host configuration fields fails to remove the visible password bullet points from the profile. The password is replaced as blank but the UI still contains data for this field.  

Resolution

To successfully reset or clear these values, use the Copy Settings method to overwrite the configuration from a known clean source.

1. Log in to the vSphere Client.
2. Navigate to Policies and Profiles > Host Profiles.
3. Select the affected Host Profile and click Edit Settings.
4. Click the Copy Settings drop-down menu in the top-right corner and select Copy Settings from Host Profile.
5. Select a reference Host Profile from your environment that is known to have no NFS configurations populated.
6. In the Select settings to copy list, uncheck all items and then select only the NFS user host configurations option.
7. Select your destination Host Profile from the list to copy the null values to.
8. Click Finish. This action forces the profile to inherit the "blank" state from the reference profile, effectively clearing the stuck passwords.

Re-run the compliance check on your hosts to verify the drift is resolved.