Reset root password on vCenter 7.x

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To reset forgotten root password for vCenter 7.x use:

1. If "administrator@vsphere.local" login is working and only root passwords needs to be reset then we can get vCenter VM console from vCenter itself.
   1. If administrator@vsphere.local password is also not known then Login into ESXi host where vCenter VM is present.

      If there are multiple hosts we need to login into them manually to see which host has vCenter VM

2. Reboot the VM (Restart guest OS - Graceful restart) and press 'e' key during reboot
3. In grub edit the boot entry start with word linux and append ' rw init=/bin/bash'
4. Press F10 after editing to continue boot
5. Remount the / with rw using:

   mount -o remount,rw /

6. Reset root passwd using

   passwd

7. Umount and reboot using:

   umount /
   shutdown -r now   #Or reboot -f

8. After reboot try root login into vCenter.
9. Optionally Disable root password expiry on vCenter

Refer:

• https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147144

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