Activate SSH on VMware Server ESX 3i

Boot your ESXi server, wait for it to finish loading, and then do the following:

1. ALT-F1 to change to the main console.

2. Type 'unsupported' (you will not be able to see what you're typing).

3. When prompted, enter the root user's password.

4. Type: vi /etc/inetd.conf

5. Find the line that begins with #ssh

6. Cursor over the first 's' and press the 'i' key (for insert mode)

7. Press backspace

8. Press ESC

9. Type SHIFT+colon (:) and then 'wq!' to write and exit.

10. Type 'ps | grep inetd' to find the inetd process

11. Send the hangup signal to the process ID output from step 10 with:

kill -s HUP

12. You can now SSH into your ESXi server.