Purpose
This article provides common resolutions to an expired root password on the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA).
Resolution
Password reset instructions
The root account password of VMware vCenter Server Appliance fails.
How to reset the lost or forgotten root password in vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 & aboveResetting root account password of vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 & 6.0
Filesystem errors
100% capacity used for /dev/sda3
/dev/sda3 - root partition 100% full due to Audit.log files not being rotated in vCenter Server Appliance
Upgrade errors
Upgrading vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 or 6.7 using the VAMI UI fails with the error:Appliance (OS) root password is expired or is going to expire soon. Please change the root password before installing an update.
"Appliance (OS) root password is expired " upgrading vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 or 6.7
Connecting to vCenter Serve errors
Login attempt using SSH fails with Login incorrect or Access denied
Unable to log in to the vCenter Server Appliance shell using root account even after password reset
In the /var/log/messages log file, you see entry similar to:useradd[24785]: pam_unix(useradd:account): expired password for user root (password aged)useradd[24785]: Authentication token is no longer valid; new one requireduseradd[24785]: failed adding user 'cm', data deletedusermod[24788]: pam_unix(usermod:account): expired password for user root (password aged)usermod[24788]: Authentication token is no longer valid; new one required
"Authentication token is no longer valid new one required","Failed to start cm services" VCSA 6.5 update failed
Upgrading vCenter Server Appliance fails at Stage 1, Step 3 with the error:A problem occurred while getting data from the source vCenter Server
"A problem occurred while getting data from the source vCenter Server" error when upgrading to vCenter Server Appliance 6.5
Upgrading vCenter Server Appliance(VCSA) from 6.5 to 6.7 fails with the error:Unable to contact the source vCenter
"Unable to contact the source vCenter" error at pre-check when upgrading vCenter Server Appliance from 6.5 to 6.7
