What is the default root pasword for MySQL 5.7

Question

Cannot login to MySQL database after fresh install with root ID and empty/no password like other older MySQL versions do

Answer 1

None of these answers worked for me on Ubuntu Server 18.04.1 and MySQL 5.7.23. I spent a bunch of time trying and failing at setting the password and auth plugin manually, finding the password in logs (it's not there), etc.

The solution is actually super easy:

sudo mysql_secure_installation

It's really important to do this with sudo. If you try without elevation, you'll be asked for the root password, which you obviously don't have.