vSphere 5.1 forgotten passwords.

[Splithorizon]

Hello all,

I currently have vCenter 5.1 installed on a 2008 server and the person who is no longer here did not leave the passwords.  It looks like I will need to re-install vCenter to reset

the root/admin passwords but my question is what will happen to my virtual machines and host if I do a re-install or is there another option for me to consider?

Thank you for your insight.

John

[DavoudTeimouri]

vCenter is working with domain user account!

So you don't need to reinstall that. Just add another user as administrator to your vCenter server. Login by that and reset your account password!

Or ask you AD manager to reset your password.

But if you mean is ESXi root password, this link will help you: VMware KB: Changing a forgotten root password on an ESX/ESXi host

[Shrikant_Gavhan]

Hi Splithorizon,

You'll need to contact your AD team to add your user ID to the vcenter server. You can use your domain credentials to login to vcenter server.

If you have vcenter server added on your domain, you can contact the AD team and ask them for the Admin login to your server.

They should be able to help you.

Thanks and Regards,

Shrikant Gavhane.

[admin]

admin@system-domain: only supported option is a reinstall OR upgrade to 5.5 as there is a process to reset the admin password from command line

ESXi root: If you have the license for it pull a host profile and reinstall, you can try to bruteforce on the DCUI as by default there is no lockout configured

vCenter Server local system: As per default domain admins are in the local administrators group and therefore can login at the server your AD team can grant you access

vCenter Server administrative users: If you have established local access you can reset the password of a local user, if AD users are granted administrative access to vCenter Server those can be reset by the AD team as well, if system-domain local users have access these can be reset from within the Web Client when you have access to admin@system-domain or any other configured SSO administrators.