How to find out the MySQL root password

Question

I cannot figure out my MySQL root password; how can I find this out? Is there any file where this password is stored?

I am following this link but I do not have dir

Answer 1

thanks to @thusharaK I could reset the root password without knowing the old password.

On ubuntu I did the following:

sudo service mysql stop
sudo mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables --skip-syslog --skip-networking

Then run mysql in a new terminal:

mysql -u root

And run the following queries to change the password:

UPDATE mysql.user SET authentication_string=PASSWORD('password') WHERE User='root';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

In MySQL 5.7, the password field in mysql.user table field was removed, now the field name is 'authentication_string'.

Quit the mysql safe mode and start mysql service by:

mysqladmin shutdown
sudo service mysql start