- On the ESXi console press alt F1
- you will see no prompt or whatever, just type unsupported
- Enter your root password
- at the prompt type vi /etc/inetd.conf
- search with pressing / for a line that starts with #ssh
- remove the #. This can be done by pressing x when you’re on the character #
- save the file by typing :wq!
- restart the server
with thanks to the great post on yellow-bricks.com
