Enable SSH on ESXi

Be default ESXi (4.0) does not have SSH enabled. Here’s how you can enable SSH to run command line utilities on your ESXi host.

Go to the ESXi console and press alt+F1
Type: unsupported
Enter the root password(No prompt, typing is blindly)
At the prompt type “vi /etc/inetd.conf”
Look for the line that starts with “#ssh” (you can search with pressing “/”)
Remove the “#” (press the “x” if the cursor is on the character)
Save “/etc/inetd.conf” by typing “:wq!”
Restart the management service “/sbin/services.sh restart”