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Unable to login with root password on esxi 4.1

I'm unable to login to one of my esx 4.1 host as root.

What's odd is that if I use the password that I believe it is, I get an certain error. the 1st one in the screen shot.

but if I try a password that I know it's definitely not, I get another error..2nd in screen shot.

Any thoughts?
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SOLUTION

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

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SOLUTION

Seaton007

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Danny McDaniel

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rdefino

ASKER

when I press ALT-F1, and try to login with root and my password, it tells me it's incorrect. But I can get into the console of the system with these credentials.

also, lockdown is enabled.

Danny McDaniel

have you tried clearing/shutting down the vm's and rebooting the host? It may be in some sort of weird state that is causing these issues.

Also, did you enable lockdown from the console or from the VC?

from the documentation:

Note

If you enable or disable lockdown mode using the direct console user interface, permissions for users and groups on the host are discarded. To preserve these permissions, you must enable and disable lockdown mode using the vSphere Client connected to vCenter Server.