Forgot Your ESXi Root Password? AD Method FIX (Safe Enterprise Reset Guide)
In this video, I’ll show you how to safely reset the ESXi root password using an Active Directory user, following a clean enterprise-grade workflow used by U.S. sysadmins, VMware admins, and NOC engineers.
What You’ll Learn
• How to use Active Directory to authenticate into a locked ESXi host
• How to create ESX Admins group & assign permissions
• How to join an ESXi host to Active Directory
• How to log in with your AD account to regain access
• How to reset the root password safely
• Best-practice steps for removing the host from AD afterward
Timestamps
00:00 — Intro: Reset ESXi root password using AD user
00:07 — Lab setup overview (3 ESXi hosts, vCenter, AD server)
00:22 — Log in to Windows Active Directory server (RDP)
00:32 — Open AD Users and Computers
00:45 — Create “ESX Admins” security group
01:09 — Create new user “esxi admin”
01:36 — Add the user to ESX Admins group
02:00 — Go to vCenter → Select ESXi Host
02:12 — Open Authentication Services → Join Domain
02:40 — Enter domain credentials → Host joins AD
02:57 — Verify Directory Service type = Active Directory
03:05 — Log into ESXi using the domain user
03:17 — Reset Root Password (Manage → Security & Users)
03:40 — Save new password
03:50 — Log out domain user & verify root login works
04:00 — (Optional) Remove host from domain
04:09 — End of video
Who This Video Helps
• U.S. VMware administrators
• Sysadmins supporting enterprise Active Directory environments
• NOC & on-call support teams
• Anyone locked out of an ESXi root account
• Engineers preparing for VMware/AD troubleshooting tasks
Tools Used
• vCenter Server
• ESXi Host Client
• Active Directory Users & Computers
• Windows Server Manager
Call to Action
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