vSphere: change users on virtual machine

Question

Is there any way to affect user accounts an a virtual machine, directly from vSphere Client?

Let's say I have a virtual Ubuntu machine and I'm not able to log in onto this machine. Can I somehow use vSphere Client to i.e. create a new User on that machine or reset the root password? Or is vSphere completely agnostic about the user management inside a virtual machine?

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '13 at 15:51

5

vSphere isn't really equipped to handle your situation. It does give you the ability to reboot the system cleanly (via VMware tools) and to get to the console to attempt other password recovery/management tasks. If you can accept a reboot, you can reset the root password through well-known methods...

answered Nov 12 '13 at 15:51

ewwhite

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doh.. you beat me to it.. – Rex Nov 12 '13 at 15:52
Completely didn't think of this when I typed my answer. But mounting a 'pen-testing' distro and then triggering a reboot would certainly help. Kudos to you. – sgtbeano Nov 12 '13 at 15:53
Thanks! I was really hoping, to get this to work without a reboot but I guess, it's the way left. – basilikum Nov 12 '13 at 16:30

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 12 '13 at 15:51

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You could connect to the console of the guest and boot it in recovery mode and follow the various instructions out on the internet to reset the password..

answered Nov 12 '13 at 15:51

Rex

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 12 '13 at 15:52

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If you install vmware tools on the guest VM you can run custom scripts. You would have to write a script to manage the user account in question. Use Custom VMware Tools Scripts

answered Nov 12 '13 at 15:52

Eric

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vSphere: change users on virtual machine

3 Answers3