Hi, I would like to be able to securely store credentials for guest VMs and automatically log onto to the guest consoles using the stored credentials. Is there a way to do this? I have tried copy and paste, but it looks like the clipboard only works after I have already logged into a guest (after I enabled copy/paste in the VM). At the console login screen, pasting does not work for either Windows or Linux guests, probably as a security measure in the OS. The reason I am looking to do this is so that I can use strong random passwords that are not memorizable and that I can use a program to manage and automatically reset in the guests. I have found a very good program for doing this, Manage Engine's Password Manager Pro, but the only problem is that it does not integrate with the VMWare guest console in order to pass the credentials.
I have read about VCLI's credential store, but that seems to be for running commands on the guests from the ESXi shell without manually authenticating to the guests. Also, the vSphere API/SDK documentation describes the credential store which facilitates automated login for unattended applications, but I was wondering if there is a similar feature for guest console login? I also looked into Single Sign On, but that seems to be for certain vSphere resources, not for guest login. Being able to store stronger passwords and automatically login via stored credentials without typing those passwords will really help us to increase security, since we will be able to automatically and regularly reset passwords. Thanks!