rootninja

Accessing the hidden VMware ESXi service console was supposed to be done only while working directly with a VMware technician, but it’s just so darn handy when you’re a command line junkie, that how can you resist right?

1. From the ESXi console summary screen hit ALT-F1.
2. Type the word “unsupported” (without the quotes of course, and you won’t see anything on the screen…)
3. Enter your root password at the prompt.

Voila. You should see a big fat red warning that will either scare you off or just tickle a little bit.

WARNING - Tech Support Mode is not supported unless used in consultation with VMware Tech Support.

Now you can navigate around and edit your configs using vi. While you’re here, why not enable ssh? Just uncomment it from your /etc/inetd.conf

Now that you know how, don’t do it. Or at least, don’t blame me when things break.