Resetting esxi root password

OK, so people are reaching out for resetting ESXi password as the old blog of mine isn’t there anymore http://www.vdsyn.com/resetting-the-root-password-for-esxi-5-x/

Ok this was on ESXi 6.5 – need to test for newer ESXi versions – but the core steps were below

Download your flavour of Linux – examples below
Kali Linux
https://www.kali.org/downloads/
or Ubuntu Desktop
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

1. Open the IPMI/iDRAC etc and mount from the ISO you downloaded
2. Boot the node – check the exact steps for your hardware
   Dell hit the F2 key on boot and choose your boot device
   If your ESXi is under VMWare Workstation, then click VM > Power > Power On to BIOS
3. Choose to “repair” and not install – for example for Ubuntu, click Try Ubuntu instead of Install Ubuntu.
   If you are using Kali Linux, you can see the desktop right away
4. Open Terminal

#mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
#cp /mnt/stage.tgz /tmp
#cd /tmp
#tar xzf state.tgz
#tar xzf local.tgz
#vi etc/shadow

e.g example
change
root:$6$klP1V.Uf$zm1ecoMUBF7.nEmPoQ7R.4SN681iQNGW8iP6qZ.7qhKiWp0sNIIF6GR/zmQH7163UPHZ8MW.ZpBOAXdYedhiE1:16396:0:99999:7:::
to
root::16396:0:99999:7:::
save

#tar czf local.tgz etc
#tar czf state.tgz local.tgz
#cp state.tgz /mnt
#reboot

Remove the ISO and boot normally
Now you should be able to login using the vSphere client/Putty as root without a password