ESXi 5.5 root password

[Netkomp]

Hi,

Have HP Proliant DL320e Gen8v2 with 2x2TB in RAID1 and ESXi 5.5. Root password was lost and need to recover, and i know how (many instructions in internet how to do that) but have some questions...

When i use debian live to change this password there is 2 drive 2TB each and dont see hardware RAID, how this is possible? This two HDD have same data (software raid? but how on VMware?).

I need to unpack files from sda5, edit file and pack them again, shoud i do the same on sdb5 or it will take data from sda?

What will happen when i change this only in one drive, and what when i do this on two drives?

[brunofernandez1]

are the 2TB drives maybe the datastores?

maybe you can't see your RAID because of driver issues?

have you allready mounted sda5 and sdb5 see what files are there?

[Netkomp]

yes, already mounted and there are same files like in this video Reset ESXi 5 Root Password - EASY! - YouTube

[brunofernandez1]

in your case i would try only to edit the sda by creating a folder somewhere at tmp and then mount sdb and look if the changes where made also at the second device...

[Netkomp]

I would have to make sure that nothing happens to the server because I can turn it off only for a few minutes (employees still working on it) and I can not afford to have a longer break in case of emergency caused by the change.

I would need certain information and not just conjecture.

[brunofernandez1]

some updates here`?

[SavkoorSuhas]

To recover a lost/forgotten password VMware recommends you to re install for ESXi

kb.vmware.com/kb/1317898

The easy work around that I follow for my test environments;

How to reset a forgotten ESXi 5.x password.

Suhas

[Netkomp]

@SavkoorSuhasSavkoorSuhasSavkoorSuhasSavkoorSuhas

It says that it works only with version 2.x, 3.x and 4.x. Your solution will not work in my case.

[darenvallyon]

I appreciate this may not work for obvious reasons, but a neat trick I have done in the past is to use host profiles. Within Host profiles there is the option to set a root password. Given vCenter has root access it can set a new password. nifty trick and works with little pain of of course you need to temp use ENT plus licenses for it to work, of not already licensed at that level.

Daren

[SavkoorSuhas]

The recommended method for ESXi to recover forgotten password is to re-install.

The workaround provided in the link works for 5.5 as I have tested this in my 5.5 U2 environment.

Suhas