vSphere Updated Sep 25, 2026

How to Reset the admin Password in vRealize Operations / Aria Operations / VCF Operations (KB 2078313)

3 min read

Short answer: to reset the admin password in vRealize Operations, VMware Aria Operations or VCF Operations, log in to the primary (master) node as root and run $VMWARE_PYTHON_BIN $VCOPS_BASE/../vmware-vcopssuite/utilities/sliceConfiguration/bin/vcopsSetAdminPassword.py --reset. The new password applies across all nodes in the cluster. If you get a Code 500 error, the password doesn’t meet the complexity or history rules. If the reset fails with CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED, the internal certificate has expired and must be replaced first (see below). Current reference: Broadcom KB 326391 (formerly VMware KB 2078313).

One day I reach vRops admin login message “Incorrect user name/password”. Here is a short info How to reset the admin password in vRealize Operations according KB 2078313. But I was unable to reset. My problem was with expired internal certificate in vRealize Operations.

Reset the OS admin Password

Note: Before resetting the admin password, ensure that the account is not locked out by this command:

pam_tally2 --user admin --reset

Note: If the admin password expires for the local OS, update the local OS version of the password before completing the below steps to reset the password across the Application:

  1. Log into the Master node as root via SSH or Console.
  2. Run the following command to reset the password, and password age of the local admin account:
passwd admin
  1. Repeat steps 1 and 2 on all nodes in the vRealize Operations Manager cluster, including Remote Collectors.

Reset the vRops admin Password

To reset the admin password, follow the steps below:

  1. Log in to the Master node as root via SSH or Console.
  2. Run this command and follow the prompts:

$VMWARE_PYTHON_BIN $VCOPS_BASE/../vmware-vcopssuite/utilities/sliceConfiguration/bin/vcopsSetAdminPassword.py --reset

Unable to reset – problem with expired internal certificate in vRealize Operations

localhost:~ # $VMWARE_PYTHON_BIN $VCOPS_BASE/../vmware-vcopssuite/utilities/sliceConfiguration/bin/vcopsSetAdminPassword.py --reset
Password:
Re-enter Password:
Saved existing admin user credentials into backup file
Call failed: <urlopen error [SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate verify failed (_ssl.c:726)>
Original admin credentials restored from backup

More info:

Daniel Micanek

Senior Service Architect, SAP/TDL Platform Services Team at Vivicta | vExpert ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Broadcom Knight: vSphere Kubernetes Service, VCF Networking (NSX), VCF Automation | Broadcom Software Knight: vSphere | Cisco Champion. Notes from running about 1,000 ESXi hosts on Cisco UCS, VCF 9 and SAP HANA on vSphere.