Despite the service console being removed in VMware ESXi an unsupported workaround can be used to enabled a limited CLI and SSH access to an ESXi host.

The procedure is as follows:

  1. From a screen and keyboard connected to the ESXi host press ALT+F1 keys
  2. Type: unsupported
  3. Type in your root password
  4. From the command prompt type vi /etc/inetd.conf
  5. Find the line which starts with #ssh
  6. Delete the # from the start of the line, (move the cursor over the # and press x).
  7. To save the file type :wq!
  8. Restart the ESX host.