How to Reset a MySQL Root Password When Access Is Denied

Problem 1: MySQL login error When attempting to connect as root you may see: mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed error: 'Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)'

Solution: Reset the MySQL password

1. Stop the MySQL service and start it without privilege checking:

# service mysqld stop
# mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
# mysql -uroot -p

2. Switch to the mysql database and change the root password:

use mysql;
update user set password=PASSWORD("newpass") where user="root";
flush privileges;
quit

3. Restart MySQL and log in with the new password:

# service mysqld restart
# mysql -uroot -pnewpass

Problem 2: Forgotten local root password

Steps to recover:

Edit /etc/my.cnf and add skip-grant-tables under the [mysqld] section.

Save the file and restart MySQL: # service mysqld restart

Log in without a password and reset the root password: # mysql -uroot -p mysql> update user set password=password("mysql") where user='root'; mysql> flush privileges;

Remove the skip-grant-tables line from /etc/my.cnf and restart MySQL again.

After these steps you can log in normally with the newly set password.