How do I find out my root MySQL password?

Question

I just installed MySQL on Ubuntu and the root user can\'t log in :)

How can I recover or find out my password? Using blank for password does not work.

Answer 1

For RHEL-mysql 5.5:

/etc/init.d/mysql stop

/etc/init.d/mysql start --skip-grant-tables

 mysql> UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('newpwd') WHERE User='root';
 mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
 mysql> exit;

mysql -uroot -pnewpwd

mysql>  

Answer 2

Hmm Mysql 5.7.13 to reset all I did was:

$ sudo service mysql stop To stop mysql

$ mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables & Start mysql

$ mysql -u root

Just like the correct answer. Then all I did was do what @eebbesen did.

mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR root@'localhost' = PASSWORD('NEW-password-HERE');

Hope it helps anyone out there :)

Answer 3

I realize that this is an old thread, but I thought I'd update it with my results.

Alex, it sounds like you installed MySQL server via the meta-package 'mysql-server'. This installs the latest package by reference (in my case, mysql-server-5.5). I, like you, was not prompted for a MySQL password upon setup as I had expected. I suppose there are two answers:

Solution #1: install MySQL by it's full name:

$ sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.5

Or

Solution #2: reconfigure the package...

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.5

You must specific the full package name. Using the meta-package 'mysql-server' did not have the desired result for me. I hope this helps someone :)

Reference: https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/serverguide/mysql.html

Answer 4

It is actually very simple. You don't have to go through a lot of stuff. Just run the following command in terminal and follow on-screen instructions.

sudo mysql_secure_installation

Answer 5

You can reset the root password by running the server with --skip-grant-tables and logging in without a password by running the following as root (or with sudo):

# service mysql stop
# mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
$ mysql -u root

mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set authentication_string=PASSWORD("YOUR-NEW-ROOT-PASSWORD") where User='root';
mysql> flush privileges;
mysql> quit

# service mysql stop
# service mysql start
$ mysql -u root -p

Now you should be able to login as root with your new password.

It is also possible to find the query that reset the password in /home/$USER/.mysql_history or /root/.mysql_history of the user who reset the password, but the above will always work.

Note: prior to MySQL 5.7 the column was called password instead of authentication_string. Replace the line above with

mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD("YOUR-NEW-ROOT-PASSWORD") where User='root';