MySQL my.cnf file - Found option without preceding group

Question

I'm trying to connect to my DB in Ubuntu remotely but I receive error message when trying to mysql -u root -p:

Found option without preceding group in config file: /etc/mysql/my.cnf at line: 1

my.cnf looks like:

[mysqld]
user        = mysql
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
port        = 3306
basedir     = /usr
datadir     = /var/lib/mysql
tmpdir      = /tmp
bind-address        =  0.0.0.0
key_buffer      = 16M
max_allowed_packet  = 16M
thread_stack        = 192K
thread_cache_size       = 8
myisam-recover         = BACKUP
query_cache_limit   = 1M
query_cache_size        = 16M
log_error                = /var/log/mysql/error.log
expire_logs_days    = 10
max_binlog_size         = 100M

[client]
port        = 3306
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

[mysqld_safe]
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
nice        = 0

[mysqldump]
quick
quote-names
max_allowed_packet  = 16M

[mysql]

[isamchk]
key_buffer      = 16M

Answer 1

Charset encoding

Check the charset encoding of the file. Make sure that it is in ASCII.

Use the od command to see if there is a UTF-8 BOM at the beginning, for example.

Answer 2

Missing config header

Just add [mysqld] as first line in the /etc/mysql/my.cnf file.

Example

[mysqld]
default-time-zone = "+08:00"

Afterwards, remember to restart your MySQL Service.

sudo mysqld stop
sudo mysqld start

Answer 3

it is because of letters or digit infront of [mysqld] just check the leeters or digit anything is not required before [mysqld]

it may be something like

0[mysqld] then this error will occur

Answer 4

I had this problem when I installed MySQL 8.0.15 with the community installer. The my.ini file that came with the installer did not work correctly after it had been edited. I did a full manual install by downloading that zip folder. I was able to create my own my.ini file containing only the parameters that I was concerned about and it worked.

1. download zip file from MySQL website
2. unpack the folder into C:\program files\MySQL\MySQL8.0
3. within the MySQL8.0 folder that you unpacked the zip folder into, create a text file and save it as my.ini

4. include the parameters in that my.ini file that you are concerned about. so something like this(just ensure that there is already a folder created for the datadir or else initialization won't work):

   [mysqld]
   basedire=C:\program files\MySQL\MySQL8.0
   datadir=D:\MySQL\Data
   ....continue with whatever parameters you want to include
   

5. initialize the data directory by running these two commands in the command prompt:

   cd C:\program files\MySQL\MySQL8.0\bin
   mysqld --default-file=C:\program files\MySQL\MySQL8.0\my.ini --initialize
   

6. install the MySQL server as a service by running these two commands:

   cd C:\program files\MySQL\MySQL8.0\bin
   mysqld --install --default-file=C:\program files\MySQL\MySQL8.0\my.ini
   

7. finally, start the server for the first time by running these two commands:

   cd C:\program files\MySQL\MySQL8.0\bin
   mysqld --console