Deployment and Management Guide for Cisco IoT FND on OVA with Postgres and InfluxDB, Release 5.x.x and Later

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Verify and reset the expired root password

Updated: February 4, 2026

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Overview

Use this procedure to verify the root password status before proceeding with the Cisco IoT FND upgrade. If the root password has expired or is not set, use the instructions provided to reset it.

The root password must be valid and active before running the Cisco IoT FND upgrade. During the upgrade, scripts invoke sudo to execute multiple commands. If the root password has expired or is not set, sudo authentication fails. As a result, the upgrade stops..

Before you begin

Use these steps to verify the status of the root password and reset it if it has expired:

Procedure

1.

Enter the ESXi server's Internet Protocol (IP) address in a web browser and log in with your ESXi credentials.

2.

From the left pane, select the Cisco IoT FND VM.

3.

Click Console and select Open Console in new tab.

The RHEL server launches.

4.

Log in with your Cisco IoT FND server user credentials.
5.

Access the Cisco IoT FND Shell terminal.

6.

Enter the following command to verify the root password status:

Example:

[fnduser@iot-fnd ~]$ sudo -i
[root@iot-fnd ~]# sudo test
Table 1. Root password status
If the root password is Then

active

[root@iot-fnd ~]#

you can run the upgrade script. For upgrade instructions, refer to the next topics in this chapter.

expired and the sudo authentication fails with the following error:

sudo: Account or password is expired, reset your password and try again

Current password:

sudo: unable to change expired password: Authentication token manipulation error

you must reset the root password. For instructions, go to step 7
7.

Run the following command to reset the root password:

Example:

[root@iot-fnd ~]# passwd
Changing password for user root.
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.
8.

Run the following command to verify the sudo command.

Example:

[root@iot-fnd ~]# sudo test
[root@iot-fnd ~]#

After the root password is active, sudo commands will run successfully without authentication errors during the upgrade.