Resetting MySQL root password when current password is not known

Question

I have inherited a server that has mysql installed on it. I don\'t have the mysql password for any user, not even root (although I have the linux root password). Plus, I a

Answer 1

You need to make sure you are running the command as root by using sudo command.

I found this instruction for resetting mysql password works well.

Following this procedure, you will disable access control on the MySQL server. All connexions will have a root access. It is a good thing to unplug your server from the network or at least disable remote access.

To reset your mysqld password just follow these instructions :

Stop the mysql demon process using this command :

       sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop

Start the mysqld demon process using the --skip-grant-tables option with this command

       sudo /usr/sbin/mysqld --skip-grant-tables --skip-networking &

Because you are not checking user privs at this point, it's safest to disable networking. In Dapper, /usr/bin/mysqld... did not work. However, mysqld --skip-grant-tables did.

start the mysql client process using this command

       mysql -u root

from the mysql prompt execute this command to be able to change any password

       FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Then reset/update your password

       SET PASSWORD FOR root@'localhost' = PASSWORD('password');

If you have a mysql root account that can connect from everywhere, you should also do:

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

Alternate Method:

       USE mysql
       UPDATE user SET Password = PASSWORD('newpwd')
       WHERE Host = 'localhost' AND User = 'root';

And if you have a root account that can access from everywhere:

       USE mysql
       UPDATE user SET Password = PASSWORD('newpwd')
       WHERE Host = '%' AND User = 'root';

For either method, once have received a message indicating a successful query (one or more rows affected), flush privileges:

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Then stop the mysqld process and relaunch it with the classical way:

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start