How to unlock and reset SSO administrator password in vSphere 5.5

Products

VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

You must unlock and reset the vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) password in vSphere 5.5 if you have entered an incorrect password for three times and you see the error:

User account is locked. Please contact your administrator.

To know the process for 6.X check this article: Unlock and reset SSO password in vSphere 6.x

Environment

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x

Resolution

Unlock the account using another session that is still logged into the SSO server or using another user account with SSO administrator privileges.

To unlock an account using another session or using another user account with SSO administrator privileges:

1. Click Home.
2. Click Administration.
3. Click Single Sign-On > Users and Groups.
4. Click the Users tab.
5. Right-click the affected user account, such as [email protected], and click Unlock.

In emergency situations or if the default policies are changed, you can also reset the password to unlock the account.

To reset the [email protected] password:

On a Windows server

Log in to the vCenter Server with a domain administrator account. If vCenter Single Sign-On is installed separate from the vCenter Server, log in to the vCenter Single Sign-On server.
Open an elevated command prompt.
Navigate to the vmdird directory by running the command:

cd Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VMware\CIS\vmdird
Run c:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\VMware\CIS\vmdird\vdcadmintool.exe.

This console loads:
===============================
Please select:
0. exit
1. Test LDAP connectivity
2. Force start replication cycle
3. Reset account password
4. Set log level and mask
5. Set vmdir state
===============================
Press 3 to enter the Reset account password option.
When prompted for the Account DN, enter:

cn=Administrator,cn=users,dc=vSphere,dc=local

A new password is now generated.

Use the newly generated password to log in to [email protected] account.

Note: If the generated password contains an exclamation mark (!), perform the regeneration process again.
After the password is regenerated, log in to vSphere Web Client and change the password to be compliant with VMware's list of unsupported character. For more information, see vSphere 5.5 Single Sign-On [email protected] password issues (2060637).

In the vCenter Server Appliance

Connect to vCenter Server Appliance through SSH.
Run /usr/lib/vmware-vmdir/bin/vdcadmintool

This console loads:

================================
Please select:
0. exit
1. Test LDAP connectivity
2. Force start replication cycle
3. Reset account password
4. Set log level and mask
5. Set vmdir state
================================
Press 3 to enter the Reset account password option.
When prompted for the Account DN, enter:

cn=Administrator,cn=users,dc=vSphere,dc=local

A new password is generated.
Use the generated password to log in to [email protected] account.

Note: If the generated password contains an exclamation mark (!), perform the regeneration process again.
After the password is regenerated, log in to vSphere Web Client and change the password to be compliant with VMware's list of unsupported character.

Additional Information

Resetting the vCenter SSO Administrator Password - SSO administrator is locked or expired
How to unlock and reset SSO administrator password in vSphere 5.1 (2146226)
How to unlock and reset SSO password in vSphere 6.x (2146224)
如何在 vSphere 5.5 中解锁并重置 SSO 管理员密码
vSphere 5.5 で SSO 管理者パスワードをロック解除してリセットする方法