Creating a password that does not meet the authentication requirements of the host causes an error.

Problem

When you create a password on the host, the following fault message appears: A general system error occurred: passwd: Authentication token manipulation error.

The following message is included: Failed to set the password. It is possible that your password does not meet the complexity criteria set by the system.

Cause

The host checks for password compliance using the default authentication plug-in, pam_passwdqc.so. If the password is not compliant, the error appears.

Solution

When you create a password, include a mix of characters from four character classes: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters such as an underscore or dash.

Your user password must meet the following length requirements.
  • Passwords containing characters from three character classes must be at least eight characters long.
  • Passwords containing characters from all four character classes must be at least seven characters long.
Note: An uppercase character that begins a password does not count toward the number of character classes used. A number that ends a password does not count toward the number of character classes used.

For more information, see the vSphere Security documentation.