VMware 4.0+ warns admins with VM hosts that have violated ‘optimum’ security practices, displaying the following messages, accopanied by the yellow warning symbol on your hosts in the VI client:

The Local Tech Support Mode for host xxx has been enabled
Remote Tech Support Mode (SSH) for host xxx has been enabled

Assuming you understand the implications of having local and remote (ssh) modes enabled, and are comfortable with that, here is how you remove the annoying warning:

1. Go to the host and the Configuration tab
2. Under the Software frame, choose Advanced Settings
3. In the dialog that pops up, choose UserVars on the left
4. Scroll to the bottom…the 4th box from the bottom is “UserVars.SupressShellWarning“. Change this value from 0 to 1.
5. Click ok and the message and symbol go away

Let me know your thoughts on this process and if you had any issues.