Log In Issue, Correct username and password but login prompt comes back

[Runofthemill]

Hi, I've been using Kali on the same VM in Vmware for 6 months or so. It has been running great. All of a sudden I started up the VM. Entered my encryption password. At the login prompt, I entered my username and password and clicked enter. The screen goes black for about 2 seconds and goes back to the login prompt. It does not give me an error for incorrect username or password. Just simply returns to the login screen. I can't seem to figure out any way to log in.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Thanks!

[Fred Sheehan]

simply returning to the login screen is expected behaviour when the username or password is incorrect.
You need to interupt the initial grub boot;

https://dannyda.com/2020/01/07/how-to-reset-kali-linux-forgotten-root-password-reset-kali-linux-password-with-single-user-mode/