error: 'Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)' — Missing /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

Question

My problem started off with me not being able to log in as root any more on my mysql install. I was attempting to run mysql without passwords turned on... but whenever I

Answer 1

I had similar problem on a CentOS VPS. If MySQL won't start or keeps crashing right after it starts, try these steps:

1) Find my.cnf file (mine was located in /etc/my.cnf) and add the line:

innodb_force_recovery = X

replacing X with a number from 1 to 6, starting from 1 and then incrementing if MySQL won't start. Setting to 4, 5 or 6 can delete your data so be carefull and read http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/forcing-innodb-recovery.html before.

2) Restart MySQL service. Only SELECT will run and that's normal at this point.

3) Dump all your databases/schemas with mysqldump one by one, do not compress the dumps because you'd have to uncompress them later anyway.

4) Move (or delete!) only the bd's directories inside /var/lib/mysql, preserving the individual files in the root.

5) Stop MySQL and then uncomment the line added in 1). Start MySQL.

6) Recover all bd's dumped in 3).

Good luck!