Unlocking and resetting the vCenter Single Sign On (SSO) administrator password (2034608)

Symptoms

• You are unable to log in to the vSphere Web Client using your SSO administrator credentials
• Logging in to the vSphere Web Client using your SSO administrator credentials fails 
• The password has been incorrectly entered three times (by default)
• You see the error:
  
  User account is locked. Please contact your administrator.

Cause

For security purposes, the administrator account is automatically locked out if there are too many failed login attempts. By default, vCenter SSO allows for three failed login attempts before an account is locked out.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, you must unlock/reset the administrator account. To reset the password, you must know the original password.

 

To unlock/reset the administrator account, use one of these methods:

• Wait for 15 minutes. By default, the account lockout policy is set to unlock after 15 minutes. For more information on account lockout policies for vCenter SSO, see Configuring and troubleshooting vCenter Single Sign On password and lockout policies for accounts (2033823).
  
• Unlock the account using another session that is still logged into the SSO server or using another user account with administrator privileges. 
  
  To unlock an account using another session or using another user account with administrator privileges:

1. Click Home.
2. Click Administration.
3. Click SSO Users and Groups.
4. Right-click the affected user account, such as admin, and click Unlock.
   

• In emergency situations or if the default policies have been changed, you can also reset the password to unlock the account.
  
  To reset the SSO administrator password on a Windows server:
  
  Note: Resetting the password will also unlock the administrator account.

1. Login as an administrator to the vCenter SSO server.
2. Click Start > Run, type cmd, and click OK. The Command Prompt window opens.
3. Navigate to the directory SSOInstallDirectory\utils. By default, the installation directory is C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\SSOServer\utils.
4. Run this command:
   
   rsautil reset-admin-password
5. Enter the master password when prompted.
   
   Note: This is the password selected for the SSO administrator during the SSO installation. If you have changed your SSO administrator password later, the master password is still the original one chosen.
   
6. Enter the SSO administrator name for which you want to reset the password. For example, admin.
7. Enter the new password for the user and then confirm it a second time.
   
   You should see the message Password reset successfully.

To reset the SSO administrator password on the vCenter Server Appliance:

1. Log in as root to the vCenter server Appliance. 
2. From the command line, navigate to /usr/lib/vmware-sso/utils directory. 
3. Run this command:
   
   ./rsautil reset-admin-password
4. Enter the master password when prompted.
   
   Note: By default, this is the root password.
   
5. Enter the SSO administrator name for which you want to reset the password. For example, admin.
6. Enter the new password for the user and then confirm it a second time.
   
   You should see the message Password reset successfully.

Source:-
 http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2034608