Frequently Asked Question
How to reset your VCSA ROOT password.
Last Updated about a month ago
- Do a controlled shutdown/reboot on the VCSA appliance.
- At the time of boot, hit the "E" key several times until you see the boot loader screen.
- Add the text "rw init=/bin/bash" to the end of the first line (starting with Linux) and then hit F10 to continue to boot (see image below).

- Once booted, type "mount -o remount,rw /" and hit enter. This will reload the root partition in read-write mode.
- Type "passwd" to start the change of the root password. Enter a password twice and you should see a confirmation it was changed.
- Type "umount /" to unmount (note there is no N in the word, this is not a spelling error) the "/" partition.
- Type "reboot -f" to force a reboot.
- Test your login to the console using the root account.