Error: Invalid username/password

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Logging into the ESXi host CLI as 'root' fails with the message invalid username/password.

Environment

7.x
8.x

Resolution

1. Login to the vCenter UI
2. Go to 'Home' > 'Policies and Profiles' > 'Host Profiles'
3. Click 'Extract profile from a host'
4. In the 'Extract Host Profile' wizard select the affected host
5. Name the Host Profile and click 'Next' > 'Finish'
6. Right click the new Host Profile and click 'Edit Host Profile'
7. In the 'Edit Host Profile' wizard uncheck all boxes
8. Using the search filter, search for 'root'
9. Check the box for 'root'
10. In the 'Password' drop-down, choose 'Fixed password configuration'
11. Enter the new password and click 'Save'
12. Highlight the new Host Profile and from the 'Actions' drop-down menu choose 'Attach Detach Hosts and Clusters' and then select the host in the wizard
13. From the Action Menu, select 'Check Host Profile Compliance'
14. From the Action Menu, select 'Remediate'
15. To confirm success, from the Action Menu, select 'Check Host Profile Compliance'

Note: There are no tools or methods to recover the original root password of an ESXi host.