So the first thing I did was reset the root password to be able to SSH into the appliance again. After that I cleaned out the logs as shown in this KB VMware Knowledge Base
Then vmware-eam wouldn't start so I followed this KB to recreate the vmware-eam config file eam.properties VMware Knowledge Base
Now vmware-eam is running again, but vmware-invsvc won't start. When I try and start it I get this error
Stdout = Starting VMware Inventory Service...
Waiting for VMware Inventory Service..........................
WARNING: VMware Inventory Service may have failed to start.
Stderr =
2019-11-05T18:40:27.533Z {
"resolution": null,
"detail": [
{
"args": [
"Command: ['/sbin/service', u'vmware-invsvc', 'start']\nStderr: "
],
"id": "install.ciscommon.command.errinvoke",
"localized": "An error occurred while invoking external command : 'Command: ['/sbin/service', u'vmware-invsvc', 'start']\nStderr: '",
"translatable": "An error occurred while invoking external command : '%(0)s'"
}
],
"componentKey": null,
"problemId": null
}
ERROR:root:Unable to start service vmware-invsvc, Exception: {
"resolution": null,
"detail": [
{
"args": [
"vmware-invsvc"
],
"id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",
"localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vmware-invsvc'",
"translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'"
}
],
"componentKey": null,
"problemId": null
}
Unable to start service vmware-invsvc, Exception: {
"resolution": null,
"detail": [
{
"args": [
"vmware-invsvc"
],
"id": "install.ciscommon.service.failstart",
"localized": "An error occurred while starting service 'vmware-invsvc'",
"translatable": "An error occurred while starting service '%(0)s'"
}
],
"componentKey": null,
"problemId": null
}
So then I followed this KB VMware Knowledge Base to try and get it working, and tried multiple generated passwords until the password didn't have ',",*,/,\
and it still won't start.