Virt-who fails with 'Cannot complete login due to an incorrect user name or password' error when configured with an Active Directory user account

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Satellite 6.16
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.10

Issue

When configured with an Active Directory user account whose password contains special characters (for example, @), Virt-who fails to login to the vCenter server with the following error:

2026-02-17 17:01:29,237 [ERROR] @esx.py:394 - Unable to login to ESX
suds.WebFault: Server raised fault: 'Cannot complete login due to an incorrect user name or password.'
2026-02-17 17:01:29,237 [ERROR] @virt.py:416 - Thread 'virt-who-config-1' fails with error: Server raised fault: 'Cannot complete login due to an incorrect user name or password.'
2026-02-17 17:01:29,237 [INFO] @virt.py:986 - Report for config "virt-who-config-1" gathered, placing in datastore
2026-02-17 17:01:29,732 [INFO] @esx.py:404 - Can't log out from ESX: Server raised fault: 'The session is not authenticated.'

Resolution

  1. Change the password of the Active Directory user account to one that does not contain any special characters.
  2. Use the new password to re-configure Virt-who.

For more KB articles/solutions related to Virt-who and Virtual Datacenter (VDC) Subscriptions Issues, please refer to the Consolidated Troubleshooting Article for Virt-who and Virtual Datacenter (VDC) Subscriptions Issues

Root Cause

The password associated with the Active Directory user account contains one or more special characters (for example, @).

Diagnostic Steps

  1. In /var/log/rhsm/rhsm.log:
  2026-02-17 17:01:24,653 [virtwho.parser WARNING] MainProcess(3207429):MainThread @parser.py:read_config_env_variables:237 - The use of environment variables and the use of the sysconfig file to configure virt-who are deprecated. Their use will be ignored in the next major release.
  2026-02-17 17:01:24,654 [INFO] @config.py:1555 - Using configuration passed in by -c/--configs; ignoring configuration files in '/etc/virt-who.d/'
  2026-02-17 17:01:24,685 [WARNING] @config.py:1594 - [virt-who-config-1]: "filter_host_parents" is set, but filter_type is not set. Possible values of filter_type: "regex, wildcards". Using default: "wildcards".
  2026-02-17 17:01:24,685 [INFO] @executor.py:54 - Using config named 'virt-who-config-1'
  2026-02-17 17:01:24,685 [INFO] @main.py:176 - Using configuration "virt-who-config-1" ("esx" mode)
  2026-02-17 17:01:24,685 [INFO] @main.py:178 - Using reporter_id='satellite.example.com-fbb6152a046049a1bd0500e983a12a48'
  2026-02-17 17:01:29,237 [ERROR] @esx.py:394 - Unable to login to ESX
suds.WebFault: Server raised fault: 'Cannot complete login due to an incorrect user name or password.'
  2026-02-17 17:01:29,237 [ERROR] @virt.py:416 - Thread 'virt-who-config-1' fails with error: Server raised fault: 'Cannot complete login due to an incorrect user name or password.'
  2026-02-17 17:01:29,237 [INFO] @virt.py:986 - Report for config "virt-who-config-1" gathered, placing in datastore
  2026-02-17 17:01:29,732 [INFO] @esx.py:404 - Can't log out from ESX: Server raised fault: 'The session is not authenticated.'
  2026-02-17 17:03:17,258 [WARNING] dnf:3207566:MainThread @connection.py:889 - Clock skew detected, please check your system time
  1. Verify that the user name and password of the Active Directory user account are correct by successfully logging into vCenter's web interface.
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