Cannot log into shell, VAMI, or appliance after resetting password

[BrandonEMorris]

I went in today to upgrade from 1.3 to 1.4.  I reset my admin password from the main page and was able to log in.  I went and tried to use the VAMI (5480) interface and could not log in.  I logged in at the console and reset my password there as well for root. 

After resetting that password I was unable to log and got a message that my root account was locked.  I rebooted with editing the boot file and using rw init=/bin/bash and ran passwd as well.

I can no longer log into the console, VAMI, or shell with the old or new password.  I'm unsure of what to do from here.

[BrandonEMorris]

I was able to get into VAMI after waiting for some hours.  Shouldn't passwd reset the lockout counter?

[Narasimha_Pras1 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

If the password is locked, resetting the password will not help and you need to wait for an hour for the password to get unlocked.

[BrandonEMorris]

That is good to know, and should be added to the Photon OS troubleshooting guide.  Is there a unlock mechanism to bypass this wait?

photon/photon-os-troubleshooting-guide.md at master · vmware/photon · GitHub

[Narasimha_Pras1]

Hi,

No, we can not bypass this, the best option would be not to try multiple attempts incase you get a 'password locked' error.