So you’ve forgotten your VMware Linux or Windows guest password? Here’s how to reset it. These instructions focus on resetting the password through the Virtual Infrastructure Client, but there’s no reason you couldn’t do it using VMware Workstation or VMware Server.
1. Grab a Kon-Boot .iso image.
2. In the Virtual Infrastructure client, configure the problematic guest’s Virtual CDROM for the Kon-boot ISO image.
3. Boot the problem guest server. At the VMware BIOS screen, press the ESC key to bring up the boot menu. Select to boot from CD-ROM.
4. When the Kon-Boot splash screen appears, press Enter to boot Windows.
5. At the Windows login screen, enter administrator as the user name, with any password you’d like. Note: This password is not persistent! You must set the administrator password manually! Once the password is set, reboot the server and you will be able to login with the newly set credentials.
If you are trying to reset the password in Linux, the steps are the same, but instead of logging into Windows and resetting the adminstrator password, login to Linux and reset the root password.
August 24, 2009 at 3:58 pm
This was simple and worked wonderfully. Thanks!
October 12, 2009 at 12:25 pm
WOW! It really was easy and worked on the first try. I’m a believer in this tool!!