SSH access to ESXi
Sep.20, 2008 in
VMware ESX/ESXi
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:
- From a screen and keyboard connected to the ESXi host press ALT+F1 keys
- Type: unsupported
- Type in your root password
- From the command prompt type vi /etc/inetd.conf
- Find the line which starts with #ssh
- Delete the # from the start of the line, (move the cursor over the # and press x).
- To save the file type :wq!
- Restart the ESX host.


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