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Version: 1.3.0

Reset VM Password

TLDR

Purpose: Regain SSH access to a StorageLink Azure VM by resetting the Linux admin user's credentials with the Azure portal's Reset password tool

Steps:

  1. On the VM details page, go to Reset password
  2. Reset the password or SSH public key of your admin user (for example azureuser), or create a new Linux admin user with a new username

Important: Do not select Reset configuration only — it wipes the StorageLink-specific settings in /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Troubleshooting: The tool relies on the enablevmaccess extension, which needs Python and free disk space — check both with Run command (python --version, df -h) and restart the VM after installing Python

Product: StorageLink by Thorn Technologies — cloud storage gateway for secure file sharing

Overview​

If for some reason you cannot SSH into your VM (on port 22) using your Linux admin user (e.g. azureuser), you can reset your credentials via the Azure Portal.

Reset your credentials with the Reset Password tool​

The Reset Password tool in the Azure Portal lets you update the credentials of Linux admin users, as well as create new users.

Under the VM details page, go to Reset password.

Reset VM Password

This page gives you the option to reset your password or SSH public key.

You can also create a new Linux admin user, as long as you specify a new username.

danger

Be careful not to select Reset configuration only — this will wipe out the StorageLink-specific settings in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file.

Video Reference​

Troubleshooting​

If the Reset Password tool is not working properly, there are a couple of things you can check.

Python version​

The Reset Password feature in the Azure Portal relies on the pre-installed enablevmaccess Linux extension. However, this extension requires Python, which may not be configured properly on some VM images.

In this section, you will verify whether Python is installed, and install it if necessary.

On the VM details page, open the Run command tab from the left side menu.

Click on RunShellScript. This opens a modal that lets you submit Bash commands.

Run Command — check Python

Type in the following command:

python --version

Click Run. It will take a minute or two for the script to execute.

If you see a Python version (e.g. Python 3.6.8) in the standard output ([stdout]), you can skip to the next section.

Otherwise, install Python 3 using your VM's package manager. On a Debian/Ubuntu-based StorageLink VM:

apt-get update
apt-get install -y python3
ln -sf /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python

On an RPM-based image, the equivalent is:

dnf install python3
rm -f /usr/bin/python3
alternatives --set python3 /usr/bin/python3.6
alternatives --set python /usr/bin/python3

You should see output confirming the installation (the example below shows the RPM-based dnf output):

Python install output on an RPM-based image

Once Python is installed, return to the VM Overview page and Restart the VM. The Reset Password tool will not work until this Restart has taken place.

Disk space​

To check your disk space, use the Run command utility in the Azure Portal to run:

df -h

If the root partition is full, the Linux agent will not be able to perform the necessary commands to reset credentials. If this is the case, you'll need to find files to delete (e.g. large log files in /var/log/) to free up some space.