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Make sure you try uppercase and lowercase, just in case you had cap locks on at the time!<br />
<br />
the official way is to re-install.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1317898" rel="ugc nofollow">http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1317898</a><br />
<br />
but these &quot;hacks&quot; work also for 5.1.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bock.nu/blog/reset-root-password-vmware-esxi-4.1" rel="ugc">http://www.bock.nu/blog/reset-root-password-vmware-esxi-4.1</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Reset_root_password.php" rel="ugc">http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Reset_root_password.php</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoL43UBpVyI" rel="ugc">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoL43UBpVyI</a>
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Make sure you try uppercase and lowercase, just in case you had cap locks on at the time!

the official way is to re-install.

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1317898 [http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1317898]

but these "hacks" work also for 5.1.

http://www.bock.nu/blog/reset-root-password-vmware-esxi-4.1 [http://www.bock.nu/blog/reset-root-password-vmware-esxi-4.1]

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Reset_root_password.php [http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Reset_root_password.php]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoL43UBpVyI [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoL43UBpVyI]

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there are no vm's on the data store I think I will re install it actually its not hard or slow is it for 5.1
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there are no vm's on the data store I think I will re install it actually its not hard or slow is it for 5.1

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I agree to Hanccocka's comment.
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interesting youtube ubuntu article I would do that but as there is no vm's on it I intend to wipe it and re-install esx 5.1
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interesting youtube ubuntu article I would do that but as there is no vm's on it I intend to wipe it and re-install esx 5.1

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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
I have just powered up an esx 5.1 server that I haven't used for say the last 6 months and the root password isn't working is there any way I can reset it
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I have just powered up an esx 5.1 server that I haven't used for say the last 6 months and the root password isn't working is there any way I can reset it

esx 5.1 server root password not working

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.